CHRISTOPHER HARRIS CJ Staff Writer / Editor

Master Musicians Festival performers keep making records, and the event itself keeps breaking records.

After Somerset ' s own outdoor music festival set its high-attendance mark in 2023 for its milestone 30th year celebration, featuring a line-up of virtually all Kentuckyborn or based artists, the 2025 edition of MMF saw even bigger numbers, bringing in 7,900 people over the course of a July weekend and setting a new target that ' s sure to fall in

the future.

That ' s because MMF just keeps earning a more and more glowing reputation in their particular field— not just Festival Field,

where the event is held every year, but among their peers throughout the nation and region. This year, they ' re bringing in one of the true darlings of

the music festival circuit— bluegrassy folk band Trampled by Turtles.

One of the Duluth, Minnesota band ' s biggest fans might be MMF executive director Tiffany Finley, who— along with the local festival’ s board— has been working to land Trampled by Turtles for years now.

“ We have put in an offer on them for the last 15 years I think, and they’ ve always said no,” said Finley, who added,“ They finally said yes.... They came to us this time. They were like,‘ Hey, we’ re available this time.’

“ They’ re such a festival