The Boston Bluegrass Union is an all-volunteer New England-based bluegrass music association promoting and supporting bluegrass festivals, concerts, jams, and bluegrass music education throughout the Northeast.
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
The last two and a half years have been challenging for us all, although we have appreciated the chance to gather together as a community for summer festivals. It’s been difficult for the BBU not only because COVID upended our plans for the Joe Val festival, but also because the Sheraton in Framingham is being downsized and will no longer be suitable for our use. Many people have asked about the plans for a future Joe Val Festival, and although we don’t have anything concrete to report at present, we are trying our best.
Since the Sheraton became unavailable, the BBU Board has been hard at work attempting to find a suitable venue for the next Joe Val Festival. As you can probably guess, the requirements for Joe Val are quite stringent in terms of the number of rooms, concert hall size, workshop rooms, food service, and parking. We have found that almost every potential hotel has limitations that make it difficult if not impossible to host the festival. Also, several hotels are struggling with a lack of staffing that makes them unable to host a group as large as ours.
We continue to aggressively search for an alternative venue. We can assure our audience that the Joe Val festival WILL return…..we just don’t know when yet. We will keep everyone updated as soon as we have news to report.