Go for the music.
Started by the Grammy-winning, York, PA-born Del McCoury eight years ago, DelFest offers some of the best bluegrass in the country each year, including Old Crow Medicine Show, Trampled by Turtles, Railroad Earth, and Jason Isbell this Memorial Day weekend. (Jason Isbell and his wife Amanda Shires’ recent performance on The Late Show was one of the highlights of David Letterman’s closing run of musical guests.)
But spread over four days and nights—and late nights—music starts Thursday afternoon and goes to 3:30 a.m. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, the 8th annual DelFest in Cumberland also offers a rare chance to mix Western Maryland camping, hiking and biking with music.
Sitting along the Potomac River at the base of the Appalachian Mountains, Cumberland was once an important railroad and canal junction and western gateway. Today, at the nexus of two of the top bicycling trails in the eastern U.S.—the C&O Canal, which begins in D.C., and the Great Allegheny Passage, which runs to Pittsburgh—downtown Cumberland has experienced a rebirth of sorts as a bicycling and recreational sports hub.
Stringing the two trails together, bicyclists literally come through Cumberland from all over the world today to ride from the Nation’s Capital to the Steel City (or vice versa) on 330 connected, car-free miles, either camping or staying in small town lodging and B&B’s along the way.
At DelFest, hosted at Cumberland’s Allegany County Fairgrounds, all multi-day passes include on-site, walk-in camping with RV hookups also available. The family friendly environment includes activities for kids, including, of course, biking or hiking on either one of the two trails.
There are a ton of bike shops situated on or near the two trails, including the Cumberland Trail Connection, which is seated right where the two trails come together downtown. Most shops rent bikes and provide shuttle service, if necessary. Many of the lodging facilities, including Cumberland’s The Inn on Decatur and Frostburg’s Trail Inn, offer bike and hike-friendly services as well.
We’re going to be doing some biking and camping ourselves this weekend in Cumberland, looking forward not just to the scenic mountain air—the weather looks great, by the way—but DelFest’s great music, too.
We should probably note that the local legends and festival namesake, the Del McCoury Band, won a “Best Bluegrass Album” Grammy in 2014 for their work, The Streets of Baltimore.