Fly Around Fest

Home
United States
Lansing, NC
Fly Around Fest

Directions Website Contact the establishment

A celebration of the natural beauty and musical heritage of this special corner of Western NC, carrying forward the spirit of Appalachia.

Year 2 7/31-8/1 at Lost Province Center for Cultural Arts and Old Orchard Creek General Store!

08/28/2026

From the earliest planning of Fly Around, Jake Xerxes Fussell was an inspiration. Over his 6+ albums he has reimagined what being a folk musician means. Taking songs from across ages, from Arthur Russell to the Sea Island Singers, his arrangements are both timeless and contemporary. So it was an honor to have him headline our second year.
As the sun set and the weather had cleared, Jake took the stage and the audience was rapt for the next 60+ minutes, just an artist and his guitar, except for the magnificent residents of the school, the chimney swifts performing their nightly murmuration, the literal fly around above our heads. I’m not sure if Jake knew they were performing above him, but for the audience is was a magical moment, music meets nature in the mountains. We couldn’t have asked for more.

08/27/2026

Fly Around seeks to showcase the ever evolving influence of Appalachian music, and we couldn’t pick a better ambassador than Martha Spencer. Born and raised in musical family just miles north of Lansing in Virginia, Martha evokes the deep heritage of mountain music, and with the Wonderland Band, puts a flair and personality all her own into the music. From classics, to country love songs about aliens, The Wonderland band literally tours the world showcasing their talents and dance steps. Saturday at Fly Around this year she got the crowd dancing and showed us how flat footing is really done. The following week they were off to the UK, and are heading soon to Japan, letting the world know Appalachian music is alive and well.

08/22/2026

One of the best parts of the festival is working with our artists thru the year, all the planning and collaboration that goes on behind the scenes, and then one day there we all are on stage, with our lovely audience.
We met Murphy Campbell like many of you, online, thru her excellent videos of banjo and flatfooting. Seeing her early success this year has been amazing and it was a joy to finally meet her in person. It may have been the Fly Around connection that brought Trevor McKenzie into her band, something we are happy to have had a small hand in. In the coming weeks she’ll be unveiling her Revenant album and we expect to continue to hear great things from her.

08/21/2026

What do y’all think, should we Fly Around again next year?
Thanks to Kevin DeShields and JewelWeed Media for capturing Friday night of the festival, such a great night under blue skies

08/05/2026

Fly Around 2026 is in the books. Year two of the festival was a test to see if we could build on the success of our first year. ‘We’ is a ragtag group of friends and Lansing community folks (shoutout to GLAD - Greater Lansing Area Developement for all their members’ help), held together by sponsor dollars and our love for this town, this campus, and the music. And a big thank you to our incredible artists who travelled and promoted and brought such talent to the stage.
Now we’re in the rear view, and it was a beautiful festival filled with intimate performances and lots of special little moments. It was great to see the audience digging into such varied artists and really listening. I (Chris here!) was constantly impressed with everyone, and it really means a lot to give these artists a stage to share their creativity.
From what we’ve gathered folks really enjoyed this year, Lansing felt the positive effects also, heard great things from our local businesses. It feels like the festival is right sized for our town and primed for some organic growth. So keep your eye out for us, spread the good word, we hope to be back again!
In the meantime, Lansing’s here for you all year long, check out the classes and events Lost Province Arts and keep an eye out for any Fly Around related pop up shows.
Love to you all!

07/26/2026

Our beverage sponsors are the best! Thanks to NoDa Brewing Company, Piedmont Wine Imports, TheSutler, Hatchet West, and blue_ghost_market, we’ve got a full bar with NC Beer, incredible Italian wines, a refreshing Sutler’s Gin cocktail as well as coffee, tea and sodas to keep you refreshed and digging the music. Even better, all bar proceeds benefit Lost Province Arts!
Grab your tickets and your pals and we’ll see you this Saturday August 1st!
🍻🍷☕️🫖🥤

07/25/2026

Festival food! Friday night at Lansing Café & General Store we’ve Pizza by the slice from Pie on the Mountain!
Saturday at Lost Province we’ve got Burgers and Fries from The Cardinal, tacos, burritos and more from La Monarca, hand dipped Ice Cream from Little Wing, vegetarian and vegan options from both trucks on Saturday!
And don’t forget Lansing also has great sandwiches at The Liars Bench, and our full service grocery store Trisha Hart is back open, plus coffee and brunch all weekend at Lansing Café & General Store
Y’all come hungry!

07/24/2026

Maybe not the sexiest part of festival life, but sponsors are the lifeblood of this production. Major thank you from the bottom of our hearts to these businesses and individuals who stepped up to support the arts and this operation. We see Fly Around as a celebration of our artists as well as the community of Lansing, and we couldn’t make it happen without their support.
We believe in arts funding as economic development, community building and building a more beautiful world.

One week to the festival! Grab tickets in advance and get yourself to the mountains!

07/23/2026

At Fly Around this year we are proud to present the New River film pop up, curated by AppState professor, filmmaker and artist Tom Hansell, and presented with support from MountainTrue Upper New Riverkeeper Hannah Woodburn and Center For App Studies.
An immersive experience featuring films exploring Appalachian life, art and heritage and our ecosystem. In the Lost Province Arts Coal room.

Fly Around Film Schedule Aug 1st,2026

One 90 minute program that repeats twice

Film Schedule

2pm Almanac Behind by Daniel Bachman Daniel Bachman (43:00)
2:45 pm Cane Boil by Sammy Osmond (5:00)
2:50pm Lady D by Ethan Payne/ Appalshop films (11:15)
3pm Benthic Salvage Tryptych by Tom Hansell (3:00)
3:05pm Chester McMillian: Two Instruments In One by Rebecca Branson Jones (8:30)
3:15pm Fly Around Jam 2025 by Jesse Barber and Matt Groce (16:00)
Rebecca Branson Jones

3:30 – 4pm break

4pm Almanac Behind by Daniel Bachman (43:00)
4:45 pm Cane Boil by Sammy Osmond (5:00)
4:50pm Lady D by Ethan Payne/ Appalshop films (11:15)
5pm Benthic Salvage Tryptych by Tom Hansell (3:00)
5:05pm Chester McMillian: Two Instruments In One by Rebecca Branson Jones (8:30)
5:15pm Fly Around Jam 2025 by Jesse Barber and Matt Groce (16:00)

5:30 wrap

07/22/2026

Closing the festival last year, Magic Tuber invited up artists to join an all acoustic jam, accompanied by Appalachian archival and nature films curated and projected by .hansell. Our videographers and captured the hallucinatory and joyous closing ritual and created a beautiful film that comes as close to being in the room as we can imagine.
This year we’re premiering the film alongside a curation from Tom Hansell as well as Daniel Bachman’s 2023 climate change album and film , presented by festival partners and in an all new film room from 1-6pm Sat Aug 1st at Lost Province Arts.
BONUS: performs Thursday July 30 to kick off Fly Around 2026 high country weekend!
Full video YouTube link in bio, tune in turn on drop out

Address

9710 NC Highway 194
Lansing, NC
28643

Website

http://flyaroundfest.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Fly Around Fest posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Establishment

Send a message to Fly Around Fest:

Want your establishment to be the top-listed arts & entertainment in Lansing?