HENDERSON, Ky. – The natural beauty of John James Audubon State Park will provide the backdrop for two festivals featuring bluegrass music and visual arts that will be staged May 16-17, 2008.

The Homegrown Bluegrass Festival, presenting nearly a dozen music groups from the tri-state area, will kick off at 4 p.m. on Friday May 16 and continue from noon until well into the evening on Saturday. Among the groups who hail from Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois will be Kings Highway, Brushfire, White Knuckles and Sassafrass. There will also be an hour-long open stage at 5 p.m. Friday and 3 p.m. Saturday.

While the music fills the air on Saturday, the park will also host the Creative Arts Festival in the side courtyard of the John James Audubon Museum from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The festival will include approximately 35 booths of visual artists, crafters, food vendors, and a special section just for kids called “Creation Station.”  This section, for children of all ages, will include face painting, art classes, balloon creations and a potter’s wheel, among other attractions.

The visual arts and crafts booths will feature pottery, woodworking, glass blowing, jewelry, stained glass, soap making, gourd painting, photography, mosaics and candles. The artists and crafters will be demonstrating, exhibiting and selling their work.

There is a parking fee of $3 per car, but admission to the festivals is free. For more information about the arts and music festivals, contact Kim McGrew at 270-827-1893 or Mark Kellen at 270-826-2247.

Audubon State Park is located at 3100 US Hwy. 41 in Henderson. The park boasts the world’s largest collection of Audubon’s art and also features exhibits about the painter’s life in Henderson, where he came with his family to operate a small mercantile business and devote himself to exploring the surrounding wilderness and sketching the wild birds he found there.

The park offers overnight accommodations in six cottages and a campground and hiking, fishing golf, tennis and other outdoor activities.

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The Kentucky State Park System is composed of 53 state parks plus an interstate park shared with Virginia. The Department of Parks, an agency of the Commerce Cabinet, operates 17 resort parks with lodges -- more than any other state. Each year, Kentucky parks draw 7 million visitors and contribute $317 million to the economy. For more information on Kentucky parks, visit our Web site at http://www.parks.ky.gov.