The French Broad River Festival is a campground-based event with activities focused on preservation of the river as well as two afternoons and evenings of mostly bluegrass and Americana-oriented jam band performances. Additional activities include a river cleanup the Thursday prior to the festival and raft and mountain bike races on Saturday morning. It is held during the first weekend of May each year. We were there in 2018, the 21st edition of the festival.
Music is on the main stage and a second “Flood Stage” under a large tent.
Sol Driven Train Saturday afternoon on the Main Stage ...
Sirius.B on the Flood Stage during an early Friday performance ...
The Dynamic Art Gallerie, in a tent near the Flood Stage, offered a small third stage and performances by bands, workshops and DJs. The few times we checked in, it was sparsely attended.
Most folks attending the festival were campers, and it was a very relaxed crowd that included many families with children. This probably accounts for light attendance at early shows, as well. We shot photos during the afternoon; audiences grew throughout the evenings.
Management of the festival is relaxed, as well. There was no printed program or campground map, and no identifiable information booth or source. Stage announcements were few, as well (which, for better or worse, meant no repeated recitations of sponsors’ names, for example).
Regardless of time of day, the tenth of a mile or so between stages in the campground remained busy.
Below, at the center of the campground, you can see the Flood Stage tent beyond the bathhouses and across the road. There are additional bathhouses near the front of the campground and were plenty of porta-johns near each stage.
The kids’ play area was next to the flood stage and featured a climbing wall and bungie jumping. A smaller play area close to the main stage had a swing set, a small slide and a face painters' booth.
A parade, jugglers, folks dressed in costume (for Cinco de Mayo and otherwise), and other activities kept spirits light.
Back at the main stage, a tent to the side provided shelter from the sun and afternoon rain.
Vendors lined the back end of the main stage area, including food vendors, an outdoor gear company and others that would be familiar to festival-goers. Booths in the background below were across the campground’s main road. There were a few more near the Flood Stage.
The Hot Springs Resort and Spa Campground has more than 500 sites, including many along the river, and appeared to pack in more for the festival. It also offers RV hookups, several cabins (below), a store and other amenities.
The river and one of two islands next to the campground ...
Free parking across the street from the campground on the lawn of Hot Springs Resort is plentiful but is about a 10-minute walk from the main stage.
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