When it comes to a full day and night of musical entertainment, there’s nothing finer than today’s Gamble Rogers Folk Festival. Especially, when it’s back home in the St. Augustine Amphitheatre.

This year’s festival is the 17th and the theme is “Return to Oklawaha County,” appropriately titled, according to Festival President Paul Linser’s recent edition of Gamble Gazette. Oklawaha County is a fictional Florida place that Rogers would take his audiences to wherever he performed.

Rogers lived in the Lighthouse Park on Anastasia Island and had staged a Storytelling Festival at the amphitheatre which highlighted, among other performers, winners from a public schools contest he organized to encourage appreciation of the art of storytelling.

He won national acclaim for his own stories and songs and singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett acknowledged Rogers as a mentor.

But Rogers untimely but heroic death in 1991 left his adopted community in shock. He died at a Flagler County Park while trying to rescue a man drowning in the rough October surf. Both men died in the rescue attempt. The St. Johns County School Board named a middle school for Rogers and Flagler County named its oceanside park in his memory.

His friends and fans created the Gamble Rogers Folk Festival in tribute and it showcases performers from all over the county. We’re glad the festival has become a tradition here and we’re glad its back “home.” The camaraderie in Rogers’ backyard can’t be beat.

Four stages and venues will be going non-stop today from noon until 6 p.m. And then, the Main Stage continues on with the headliners starting at 7 p.m., Aaron O’Rourke Trio, followed by the well-known regional group, the Gatorbone Band, and then The Waymores, whom Linser refers to as one of Nashville’s top threesomes of singer-songwriters.

The festival’s proceeds benefit youth music programs. Tickets for today’s festival are $35 per person and children under 12 get in free when accompanied by an adult on a paid ticket.

The Amphitheatre is always a busy place with or without another event on Saturdays with the Farmer’s Market open for business until around 12:30 p.m. We suggest you come early and take in the market before following the sounds of music.