With a 28-year history, the Talkeetna Bluegrass and Music Festival is set to make this year better than ever, thanks to the talent and hard work of Homer musician LuLu Small, whose entertaining antics onstage have earned her the title "Diva of Delirium."

Small was there when the festival started and this year has been handed the reins to book talent and market the annual three-day event. Her ties to the peninsula's musical family is why the festival's 80-plus entertainers this year include Three Legged Mule, Reuben Cash, LoveLifeMusic with Milo Matthews, fiddler Cathy Stingley and the LuLu Small Band, as well as Kenai's popular Mabrey Brothers.

Tickets for the Aug. 7-9 festival are available only at the gate. Cost is $35 for adults, for the entire weekend, with plenty of camping space. Kids 13 and under get in free with their families.

The festival began as a gleam in the eye of "Dirty Ernie" -- formally known as Ernie Wheatley -- after he saw Small perform a solo gig in Talkeetna.

"He approached me later and said, 'I want to have a party, a Talkeetna bluegrass festival. What would you charge me to use your sound system?' I said, 'A music festival? Nothing, if you let me play.' We've been friends and doing this ever since," Small said.

Truth is, Small is so much a part of the Talkeetna fun that four years ago she chose it for a one-of-a-kind event of the heart.

"This is my four-year wedding anniversary. (Dave and I) got married there and Dirty Ernie gave me away," said the Homer-based musician.

The first time Small heard Three Legged Mule, she knew the band was a natural for Talkeetna. Stingley has performed with Small's band and will be making her initial appearance on the festival stage. Small refers to her "our little surprise. Although Small hasn't heard some of the other Homer music-makers perform, she knows them by reputation and is eager for the state to get an earful.

The festival is operated as a nonprofit. Once the entertainers are paid, the proceeds are donations to shelters and other food and clothing needs in the Palmer, Trapper Creek and Fairbanks areas.

"Ernie does this not only to have a festival, but to help people out," Small said.

The festival has taken some hits in the past for rowdy partying by some attendees, but Small's working hard to turn that around and keep the focus on the music and everyone having a good time. There's a designated camping area for families and seniors that's "very much private," she said. Free drinking water is provided outside the gate. There are five showers and an RV dumpsite. Round-the-clock security, known as "Karma Control," monitors the area on four-wheelers.

This year, all festival-goers will be given a feed-back form to complete and return at the end of the festival.

"It will give us some input about the experience, what they'd like to see in the future, what were the best and worst parts," Small said.

Sunday, after the last band -- Full Tilt -- has performed, another something extra is in planned.

"All the musicians are going to get on stage and have a surprise grand finale," Small said of the tribute to well, you've just got to be there.

For more information on the festival, visit the Web at www.eideticimage.com/bluegrass or call 299-5858. For information on Small, visit www.lulusmall.net.

McKibben Jackinsky can be reached at mckibben.jackinsky.@homernews.com.