The Selma Times-Journal

Keenan’s Mill celebrated its fourth annual Keenan’s Mill Bluegrass Festival on the mill grounds Saturday.

Pulling in around 300 attendees, event organizer Jim Woods said he was pleased with the turnout.

“We didn’t have the crowd we would like (but), we grow a little bit every year,” Woods said.

This year, like every year, the festival featured fresh ground cornmeal from the restored and fully working mill.

Using the millstone, which turns at about 25 horsepower, the corn is ground on the scene and sold for $3 per bag to attendees.

This year, the festival featured something different.

Festival organizers allowed community members to set up tents and camp out Friday night, so that they were ready for the festival by Saturday morning.

Woods said the festival started as the Harvest Festival and after some bands came in, it turned into the bluegrass festival.

Put together by the Selma Dallas County Historic Preservation Society – which owns the site – the festival is a fundraiser for the society.

The society was given ownership of Keenan’s Mill on the agreement that they would continue the upkeep of the grounds and keep it open to the public.

Woods said there was more good news this year as well – organizers completed the restoration and cleaning of the grounds.

Next year, Woods said, organizers hope to have more bands and more people attending.