By MARK COOK
Pilgrimage 2016 kicked off just after 10 a.m. this morning with a relatively light crowd.
Anthony Adams and the Night Owls, a Franklin-based band, opened the festival on a small stage in one of the few shaded areas of the festival grounds at The Park at Harlinsdale Farm.
“It feels good to see our names on that big poster,” Adams said between songs. “It also feels good to see so many people we, and so many people we don’t know, out there.”
Among those in the crowd were Kenn and Deb Duncan of Prescott, Ariz., who serendipitously ended up as guests of Adams and his family after choosing the Adams home on Air B&B.
Kenn Duncan said it was luck that he ended up with the performer on his first trip to Franklin and Nashville.
“We are big Better than Ezra fans,” he said. “We would have come last year if we would have known about it.”
This is the second-ever Pilgrimage Festival.
Kevin Griffin of the band Better than Ezra, another Franklin resident and architect of the festival, was at the gate when the barricades were moved and the first attendees entered with a cheer.
Though the initial crowd was light, people steadily streamed in the first hour.
High temperatures and blue skies are expected all day in Franklin.
