BLUEGRASS ON THE MISSISSIPPI: FIRST STRINGBENDERS BLUEGRASS FESTIVAL FRIDAY THROUGH SUNDAY AT THEBES, ILL.

THEBES, Ill. -- The first-ever Stringbenders Bluegrass Festival will be held this weekend on a piece of flat land between Old Man River and the historic courthouse that once imprisoned Dred Scott.

The festival is the creation of Scott Kuyper and Zac Caldwell, two bluegrass musicians/fans who were sitting around playing one night and found themselves wondering why they had to travel at least a hundred miles to attend a festival.

Gates will open at the Stringbenders Bluegrass Festival at 4 p.m. Friday. An all-night jam will ensue.

The stage music will begin at 10:30 a.m. Saturday and will continue until a break at 5 p.m. The evening show will follow until an unknown hour.

"You never know about bluegrass bands," Kuyper says. "They don't like to be constrained too much."

A nondenominational religious service will start things off Sunday at 10:30 a.m. The music will begin at noon and last until 6 or 7 p.m.

The festival will present music by six groups in addition to the campfire jams. They include The Ezzells from Van Buren, who were standouts at the recent City of Roses Festival in Cape Girardeau.

Also on the bill is 13-year-old fiddle phenom Katie Kerkhover & Rockwood Junction from Chester, Ill..

Josh Williams & High Gear features a 17-year-old banjo player from Benton, Ky., who was named one of the rising stars in bluegrass in the January 1998 issue of Bluegrass Now magazine.

The eight members of the Bob Lewis Family hail from Poplar Bluff and will lead Friday night's jam. Santa Fe is a local group that includes banjo player David Prosser, guitarist Mark Glaab and bassist Zac Caldwell, Kuyper's partner in producing the festival.

Rounding out the lineup is Poplar Bluff-based Guy Stevenson & the Winning Team, who will play on Saturday only.

Sitting around a campfire and playing music with people is one of the joys of a bluegrass festival, says Kuyper, who invites anyone who plays an instrument to bring it. "If you get tired of playing around one campfire one night, you can walk to somebody else's," he says.

"Everybody gets an opportunity to take a lead and show their stuff."

Kuyper, who lives outside Olive Branch, works for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources at the Horseshoe Lake Refuge. Caldwell is a commercial artist.

Kuyper said they chose this weekend for the first festival because Illinois students are not in school on Friday and Monday is Columbus Day.

The area has about 30 camp sites with electricity and water and a large area is reserved for primitive camping. There is 24-hour security.

Concessions will be available at the festival. No alcoholic beverages will be allowed in the stage area.

"It's a family thing up there," Kuyper said.