The Fayetteville Roots Festival may have been born less than a year ago, but the second-year music, food and culture event is growing up fast. Really fast.

The festival, which began in 2010 as a one-day music event at Greenhouse Grille (a broken water main caused the event to be moved to George’s) will grow into a three-day, four-venue party in 2011.

That party will kick off with a free concert on the Fayetteville square during the Farmers’ Market from 9 to 11 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 27. Later on, four stages of live music, including headliners Guy Clark, Chatham County Line, and Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion, along with local food and merchant booths, will be set up at the Walton Arts Center.

The final day of the festival is set for Sunday, Aug. 28, and includes another free show at Greenhouse Grille during brunch before a ticketed finale (also at Greenhouse Grille) that evening at 6 p.m.

Event poster

In addition to the above events, an intimate “backstage” concert with Chatham County Line will take place on Friday, Aug. 26 at the home of Hershey and Denise Garner as part as an exclusive “Friends of the Festival” package.

The “Friends of the Festival” package also includes an open bar and dinner from Greenhouse Grille Friday night, as well as premium first-15-row seats to the Saturday night performances at the Walton Arts Center.

Only about 200 “Friends of the Festival” packages will be sold, and they are now on sale for $99 at fayettevilleroots.com.

The initial festival lineup came out back in May, and specific times and locations for those performances will be out soon.

Individual tickets to the Saturday performances at Walton Arts Center ($30-75), as well as the Sunday evening finale at Greenhouse Grille ($20) will go on sale in the next few weeks.

We’ll keep you those items. For now, have a look at fayettevilleroots.com for more info.

Roots party?