Bluegrass & BBQ Festival at Silver Dollar City.

The annual Bluegrass & BBQ festival at Silver Dollar City near Branson, Mo., kicked off this week and will run through May 31.

One of the theme park’s festival headlines, Rhonda Vincent and her band The Rage, will perform May 20 and 21. Also topping the weeks-long playbill are Dailey & Vincent from May 25 through May 28; and The Grascals, May 29-31. Nothin’ Fancy, which won the Entertaining Group of the Year honors this year from the Society for the Preservation of Blue Grass Music in America, is due to perform at the Ozark hills attraction May 29-31. North Carolina-based Kruger Brothers will perform May 17-21.

In all, 40 bands — many of them national touring acts — will perform over the 19-day festival.

The festival also includes the annual KSMU Youth in Bluegrass Band Contest, which will be held at Silver Dollar City’s Opera House Theater May 23 and 24. Amateur entertainers aged 21 and younger will be vying for cash prizes, including the first place winnings of $1,200.

The Silver Dollar extravaganza also hosts the third annual National Single Mic Championship in the Opera House Theater on May 16 and 17. Bands that perform using the single-microphone technique will compete in this contest. This distinctive style was first made popular by bluegrass band members in the 1920s, 30s and 40s who would often gather closely around a lone microphone, and balance their sound by moving toward or away from it.

First prize includes a professional photograph of the band to be published in a full-page advertisement in Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine announcing the band’s victory. Each of the top three bands will be offered a future booking at Silver Dollar City.

The festival obviously lives up to the second part of its name with specials at The House of BBQ on the theme park grounds. New this year is a feature allowing attendees to partake of all-you-can-eat barbecue dinners on weekends.

Information is available at http://festivals.bransonsilverdollarcity.com.