The Great Blue Heron Music Festival

The Great Blue Heron Music Festival is an annual music festival held the first or second weekend of July in Sherman, New York, a small town in the Amish country side of Western New York, United States. The Great Blue Heron Music Festival, or simply Blue Heron, as it is known, draws several thousand visitors throughout the course of three days. The Blue Heron presents over 30 musicians and bands between the three stages at the venue. Genres traditionally represented include bluegrass, Cajun, zydeco, African, reggae, Americana, old-time music, Irish music, and jam band. However, in recent years, the festival has featured many contemporary, national acts such as Rusted Root and The Avett Brothers.

The first Blue Heron was held in 1992 Originally, the festival was conceived to be a small single-day gathering, featuring music from Donna The Buffalo. After the initial team meeting, the festival was expanded into a three-day event and continues in that format.

The festival grounds, covering over 300 acres, contains three stages. A single main stage showcases the majority of the daytime and headlining music, while a 'dance tent' functions as a side stage during the festival. In 2010, an additional stage was built adjacent to the cafe in the woods.

According to the Roster of Past Performers, artists who have performed at the Great Blue Heron Festival include 10,000 Maniacs, Alison Pipitone, Armor & Sturtevant, Baby Gramps, Bombadil, Donna the Buffalo, Hypnotic Clambake, Jim Donovan, John & Mary, Kate Jacobs, Lightnin' Wells, Los Straitjackets, Peacefield, Rusted Root, Say Zuzu, Slobberbone, Slo-Mo, Southern Culture on the Skids, Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, The Avett Brothers, The Big Wu, The Burns Sisters, The Campbell Brothers, The Horse Flies, The Mighty Wallop!, The Mollys, The Red Stick Ramblers, The Tarbox Ramblers, Tim O'Brien, Tony Vacca, Zekuhl, and Zydeco Experiment.