The Henderson Bluegrass Festival is coming back to Water Street Plaza for its third year, bringing a free, family-friendly lineup of national and regional acts to downtown Henderson on October 17. The daylong event runs from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and will once again turn the amphitheater into a stage for touring bluegrass talent alongside local food and drink vendors.
According to FOX5 Las Vegas, this year's bill includes East Nash Grass, Sister Sadie, the Tray Wellington Band, Authentic Unlimited, the Cody Sisters, and Kristy Cox & Grasstime. Attendees are encouraged to bring chairs and blankets, and local vendors will offer food and drink between sets, the station reports. Per Everyday.Vegas, the festival will also host a VEaM Vendor Village, organized by local event promoter Vegas Events and More, giving small businesses a footprint across the plaza throughout the day.
A Lineup Stacked With Award Winners
Headliner Sister Sadie made history in 2020 as the first all-female group to win the International Bluegrass Music Association's Entertainer of the Year award, and the band later picked up a 2024 Grammy nomination for Best Bluegrass Album for “No Fear,” according to the Lyric Theatre. East Nash Grass, meanwhile, won IBMA New Artist of the Year in 2024 and picked up a nomination for 2025 Entertainer of the Year, a rise the band built through a seven-year weekly residency at a Nashville dive bar, per the Grand Ole Opry.
Authentic Unlimited, formed in late 2021 by former members of Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, moved quickly through the awards circuit — winning both Vocal Group of the Year and New Artist of the Year at the 2023 IBMA Awards before taking Song of the Year in 2024, according to a history compiled by the Bluegrass Christmas in the Smokies event page. Banjoist Tray Wellington, who leads the Tray Wellington Band, won the IBMA Momentum Instrumentalist of the Year award in 2019 and released the acclaimed 2022 album “Black Banjo,” which highlighted the historical Black roots of bluegrass and banjo music, per Wikipedia.
Global and Regional Talent Round Out the Bill
The festival's reach extends well beyond Nashville. Kristy Cox, the Australian-born musician known as the “Australian Queen of Bluegrass,” has earned seven Bluegrass Recording of the Year awards at Australia's Country Music Awards and was inducted into the Australian Country Music Hall of Fame in 2023, according to Arkansas State University. The Cody Sisters, a Colorado-based acoustic trio, won top honors in the FreshGrass Award Band competition in September 2025, marking their evolution from a youth family act into an acclaimed progressive acoustic group, per the Purple Fiddle venue's artist profile.
The event's growth traces back to its 2024 debut, when the inaugural Henderson Bluegrass Festival brought national act the Slocan Ramblers to Water Street Plaza alongside Nevada groups the Hollerbodies and the Boulder Highwaymen, according to the Nevada Arts Council. Booking multiple IBMA award-winning and Grammy-nominated acts alongside regional talent has helped establish Water Street Plaza as a regional roots-music destination in just two years.
Why Water Street Plaza Keeps Landing Big Events
Water Street Plaza is a 60,000-square-foot outdoor venue with a covered amphitheater and a giant LED screen, and it was named Best Outdoor Family Events Venue in KNPR's Best of the City 2024 awards, according to the City of Henderson. The plaza anchors downtown Henderson's broader Water Street District redevelopment, sitting next to the America First Center practice ice facility for the Henderson Silver Knights and hosting other key civic programming, including the annual Art Festival of Henderson, as previously reported by the city and by the Las Vegas Sun.
The venue has become a steady host for Henderson's civic calendar, from battle-of-the-bands competitions to Pride-related programming, reflecting the city's broader push to draw foot traffic downtown through free cultural events. With admission once again free and the schedule stretching a full eight hours, the third annual Henderson Bluegrass Festival looks to build on that momentum on October 17.
