The 45th Annual Bascomb Lamar Lunsford Festival will be held Saturday October 6th at Mars Hill College.  The theme for this year’s Bascom Lamar Lunsford “Minstrel of Appalachia” Festival is “Looking to the Past, Looking to the Future."  In looking to the past, the festival will feature a reunion of the Midnight Plowboys, a bluegrass and roots music band from Asheville, NC, which performed and recorded professionally from about 1980 until 1990.  In looking to the future, the Lunsford Festival will bring back this year for the first time in many years, the Lunsford Festival Youth Award.  The award will be presented publically at the festival during the evening concert.  Also presented will be the Bascom Lamar Lunsford award, which has been bestowed annually at the festival on a musician who has dedicated his or her life to preserving and honoring the music and dance traditions of the region.  The youth award will go to a young person whose talent and passion show promise in leading a new generation of traditional musicians. Daytime activities are free and will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.   Those activities include: games, music, dancing, an apple-butter-making demonstration hosted by Madison County 4-H, a traditional ballad and story swap in Montague Hall, from 1:30 until 3:30 pm, a silent auction to benefit and enrich the festival, and a number of free workshops.  Workshops in guitar, banjo, fiddle, ballad singing, and clogging will be held at 10:30 and 11:30.  Workshops are free, and participants can sign up at the Lunsford Festival information table or by contacting the festival director to reserve a spot.  An evening concert featuring performances by the region's best ballad singers, dancers, and string bands will begin at 7 p.m. in Moore Auditorium and will cost $10 for adults and $5 for children under 12. Tickets can be purchased at the event or in advance through the Mars Hill College Bookstore. Musicians currently scheduled to perform include:  Midnight Plowboys, Betty Smith, The Buddy Davis Family, Phil and Gaye Johnson, Green Valley Cloggers, Stoney Creek Boys, Joe Penland, Roger Howell, Trantham Family, Appalachian Harmony and Richard Hurley.  Check the Lunsford Festival website for more details, pictures, most current list of performers, times, and workshop leaders at www.lunsfordfestival.com.