Earle Wheeler, the founder of the Marksmen Quartet, has great memories of past Lewis Family Homecoming & Bluegrass Festivals and said he feels sad that this year's 22nd event will be the last.

"We've only missed a couple due to previous engagements," said the Marksmen's lead vocalist and sometimes acoustic bass player. "The Lewis Family have been some of the best friends we've ever had over the years. We've worked all over the country with them."

The festival will be Thursday, April 30, through Saturday, May 2, at Elijah Clark State Park, 10 miles east of Lincolnton, Ga., on U.S. Highway 378 at the Savannah River. The festival is being discontinued because of the high cost of staging it and a lack of patron growth.

The Marksmen Quartet, of Cleveland, Ga.; Raymond Fairchild & The Maggie Valley Boys, of Canton, N.C.; and The Lewis Family are the only groups booked for this year's festival that also performed at the first in 1988.

The Marksmen (Mr. Wheeler; his son, Mark, and Darrin Chambers and Davey Waller) will perform at 12:45 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. April 30.

The festival offers continuous music from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. each day. Admission costs $30 for adults and $15 for ages 6-13. Adult admission after 6 p.m. each day is $20.

The bluegrass group Dailey & Vincent will perform at 3:45 and 9 p.m. Thursday. See thelewisfamilymusic.com or aandabluegrass.com for the complete lineup.

Though the Lewis Family festival is closing because of a lack of patron growth, Mr. Wheeler said that most other bluegrass music festivals and shows seem to be holding their own.

"Our bookings this past winter were the best in years," he said. "And I've known of only one other bluegrass festival, one down in Florida, not being held, and I think they were just tired of doing it."

FIFTH ANNUAL MUSIC CAMP FESTIVAL: The banks of the Pacolet River north of Spartanburg, S.C., off Interstate 85 at Exit 80, will be the site of a country rock, blues and folk music festival June 19-20.

Tickets before May 1, available at themusiccamp.com, cost $50 for a weekend pass or $35 for Saturday only. The prices after May 1 will be $60 and $40.

Expected performers are the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Donna the Buffalo, The Belleville Outfit, The Blue Dogs, The Duhks, The Infamous Stringdusters, BoomBox, The Shane Pruitt Band, Matthew Knights Williams and The Piedmont Boys

Don Rhodes has written about country music for 38 years. He can be reached at (706) 823-3214 or at don.rhodes@morris.com.