The lawn in front of Harmony Hall in Sloatsburg filled with music fans during the 2017 Highlands Bluegrass Festival. The 9th annual Highlands Bluegrass Festival takes place at Harmony Hall on Sunday, September 9, from 1-6 p.m.

It all comes down to the weather. Talk to a Friend of Harmony Hall about the upcoming 9th annual Highlands Bluegrass Festival and you can almost see their eyes momentarily stray to the sky. Recent weeks of rainy weather can create anxiety and dampen enthusiasm of a small organization that is staging a big outdoor event.

Bluegrass and Americana banjo master Tony Trischa headlines this year’s Bluegrass Festival at Harmony Hall.

The Friends of Harmony Hall in Sloatsburg, NY, host one of its signature events on the second Sunday of September out under the open sky on the Great Lawn. With a little luck and lots of fan loyalty, the lawn will fill with plenty of bluegrass music fans from throughout the Hudson Valley.

This year’s September 9 Highlands Bluegrass Festival features Tony Trischka and his band Territory plus the rollicking sounds of local bands Moonshine Falls and Blue Plate Special. The Friends of Harmony Hall will be out with a crew of volunteers requesting concertgoers contribute $10 donation toward the event — a much-needed contribution which helps the non-profit group pay for expenses.

An afternoon crowd from across the Hudson Valley makes itself at home on the Great Lawn at Harmony Hall in Sloatsburg, NY, during the Highlands Bluegrass Festival.

With plenty of homegrown work from the Friends group, the Bluegrass Festival  has taken root in the Route 17 corridor community and grown over the years into a sort of big tent Sloatsburg event that attracts very good, nationally-touring bluegrass musicians as well as fans from across the Hudson Valley and further afield.

The Town of Ramapo has staked the historical Jacob Sloat House with important sponsorship over the years, helping to cover the costs of one of Sloatsburg’s important historical properties, designed and constructed by entrepreneur Jacob Sloat between 1846 and 1848. Sloatsburg is not only named for the Sloat family but the Village still possesses homes and other vestiges of the once prominent family — the historical Sloatsburg Cemetery to the Sloatsburg United Methodist Church and Liberty Rock Park were all once part of the Sloat family holdings.

This year also marks the second year that the Bluegrass Festival has received an important grant from Rockland County Tourism to help promote the event and surrounding corridor community as a signature Rockland County event.

All the pieces are in place and the hard work is set to pay off for the Friends of Harmony Hall that could help elevate the Jacob Sloat House’s position in the community as the vital cultural and educational fulcrum it has become.

Now, if the weather co-operates with some blue sky, the Bluegrass Festival will provide a relaxing day of musical goodness to fans that also shines light Sloatsburg itself.