A local brother-and-sister team decided it wouldn’t hurt if Idaho Springs was a bit more musical, and so the pair have created a bluegrass festival.

The Clear Creek Rapid Grass music festival, a nonprofit event, will take place on July 10 from 4 to 11 p.m. at the Idaho Springs Baseball Fields.

“It’s kind of just an acoustic roots festival … because it’s not necessarily bluegrass, it’s just a showcase of the talent within the community,” said Sarah Morris, an Idaho Springs resident and the event’s co-creator. Sarah and her brother Mark thought up the event and planned it.

Sarah said the event will have a combination of local musicians, such as the band County Crows, and other acts from across the state, as well as one from Pennsylvania.

The lineup will also include Sarah and Mark’s own alternative/folk band, Bobtail Proper.

“We love the community, we love the area, and so we just want to bring people over here so they don’t forget about us,” Sarah said. “… (Idaho Springs is) starting to become just a pass-through for people on the way to the ski slope, and we want to showcase the great town that we grew up in and also showcase the amazing talent that can come from it.”

Sarah said their hope is to hold the event again next year if this year brings success.

“Our dream is to continue (the event) as long as we can,” Sarah said. “… We want to hopefully keep it pretty small, but it’s definitely something we plan on doing in the future if it’s as successful as we anticipate it to be.”

Mark said he came up with the idea because, after playing at a series of bluegrass festivals across the country, he began to question why Clear Creek County didn’t have one.

“I’ve been talking to a lot of the people who put these on throughout my travels, and I was just wondering why we didn’t have one in Clear Creek County, because we have the Blues Festival up in Empire, and I figured the best way to get one started was to start one,” Mark said.

Mark said starting the festival from scratch has been fun but admits that it has been more time consuming than he first anticipated.

“There was a lot of hoops that we had to jump through to kind of figure out everything that we needed and stuff that I didnt’ expect we needed that we ended up having to get,” Mark said.

Mark added that people are welcome to bring tents and stay out on the field overnight to discourage any drinking and driving.

He said the experience of starting the festival was fun because his sister Sarah was helping. Mark said the goal of the event is to bring the community together.

“And basically open their eyes to other kinds of music, like this mountain music we call bluegrass,” Mark said. “We just wanted everyone to have a good time.”

Tickets will cost $10, and children and seniors will be admitted for free. Event-goers get full-day access to the music, a chance to meet the bands and the chance to attend music workshops and even participate in a yodeling contest.

Contact Ian Neligh at couranteditor@evergreenco.com, and check www.clearcreekcourant.com for updates and breaking news.