This weekend, nine Nashville songwriters will take to the stages of Flagler County as part of the inaugural Palm Coast Songwriters Festival.
Performing songs as they were originally written, the group of writers and musicians will also share the stories and inspiration behind them.
Brought to fruition by Garry Lubi — a banker by day with a serious love for country music — after he visited similar festivals in Nashville, and following a two-decade-long friendship with songwriter Thom Shepherd, the pieces came together for the Flagler County Songwriters Festival.
“It really goes back to my days of living in Nashville, Tennessee and going to the Tin Pan South Songwriters Festival,” said Lubi. “After seeing the big one in Nashville and hearing Thom talking about other smaller songwriting festivals, I always felt like our area was perfect for one of these."
Bringing in writers like Lee Miller, co-author of “The World,” a big hit for country star Brad Paisley, and a slew of other chart toppers, is a coup, according to Lubi.
“Say thank you to Thom Shepherd for this,” said Lubi. “He knows these guys.”
The festival will kick off during Flagler Beach's First Friday event beginning at 6 p.m. and then on Saturday moves to the amphitheater at Daytona State College’s Palm Coast campus from 6 to 9 p.m.. The three-day event wraps up from noon to 3 p.m. Sunday on the Palm Coast Arts Foundation's outdoor stage in Town Center. All events are free and open to the public.
Co-organizer of the festival, David Ayres, general manager of Flagler Broadcasting, said the event could mean bigger things for Flagler County in the future.
“Palm Coast is perfect for it because there hasn’t been anything like this here,” he said. “We want to partner with the state and become a part of the statewide songwriters festival circuit in years ahead, so when the songwriters are on their way to Key West, Palm Coast is one of the stopping points."
For Lubi, seeing his dream become a reality is an exciting prospect.
“We wanted to start small and make this into an annual event,” he said. “This is very exciting. When you haven’t seen it, it’s hard to visualize but it’s almost like the person up there performing is in your living room, that’s the feeling you come away with.”
A scheduled lineup is available at palmcoastsongwriters.com .