GALAX- Thousands of young people from up and down the East Coast converged in a field near here in Carroll County for the beginning of "Stompin 76".

A spokesman for the Carroll County Sheriff's Dept. said Friday night that an estimated 50,000 people were inside the gates for the three-day music festival.

Thousands more were still trying to reach the site. Traffic on one road into the area was reported backed up for 10 miles.

The crowd is being drawn by some of the biggest names in country and blues music. Entertainers include the Earl Scruggs Revue, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, John Prine, Bonnie Raitt, Vassar Clements, Doc & Merle Watson, the Osbvorne Bros., Hickory Wind and New Grass revival.

All roads I the Galax area were choked with traffic most of Friday.

Law enforcement officers said people were parking as far as 12 miles away and walking to where the festival is being held. Some people were apparently parking in private driveways and police were threatening to tow vehicles away. Some enterprising people rented inner tubes to float down the New River to the music grounds.

Those attending the festival came in campers, pickups and cars. Most of them are in their late teens and early 20's. They carried coolers of beer, sleeping bags and food with them.

The music site is a 400-acre field about eight miles north of Galax.

GALAX- estimated 50,000 people crowded into farm fields for the second day of "Stompin 76", a king-size country and bluegrass music festival.

"Officials said the crowd last night was well- behaved." Sheriff E.O. Semones of Carroll County said the biggest problem has been finding space for all the people. He said it created a problem with farmers in the area.

"They are pretty hot about it but there are no reports of conflict yet" the sheriff commented. The Twin County Community Hospital in Galax said the staff has been tripled for the festival. A spokesman said a number of persons are being treated for minor injuries and that three or four had been treated for drug abuse. Semoanes said that as of last night, only four arrests associated with the festival had been made.

The Associated Press reported that the festival promoter Hal Abramson, has 250 security personnel on duty. There are also some medical facilities at the festival site. He is with cactus Productions of Las Vegas, Nev. Tickets to the event are $12.

The Carroll County Health department reported that the promoters have set up 377 portable toilets and has 10 outlets from a well for drinking water.

Four trucks with 20,000 gallons of water are also at the site. The production company is using helicopters to take the entertainers to and from the festival and it is also being used as an ambulance.

Once "Stompin 76" is over, the Galax area must brace itself again for the next weekend when the 41st Old Time Fiddler's Convention will be held. This annual attraction is promoted by the Galax Moose Club.

The fiddler's convention attracts large crowds but not as large as those at the country- bluegrass event.

And many of them were using drugs to supplement the music. Everything from marijuana to LSD was being sold at the site, about eight miles north o here in rural Carroll County. By 7 p.m. Saturday, more than two dozen cases of drug overdoses had been reported. "I'd like to dedicate this set to a new-born baby", blues singer Bonnie Raitt said as she started her performance.

Most of the 100,000 were at the festival site some of the best known country, rock and blues groups in the nation attracted fans from all over the United States. And people were still trying to reach the site Saturday night. "That whole corner of Carroll County is nothing but people and cars Sheriff E.O. "Mutt" Semoanes said. "it's really too big, really too much. It's a hell of a crowd, he said.

The sheriff said the event appeared too big for the accommodations. Cactus Productions began renting adjacent land for parking and for the thousands of campers that are here. Helicopters were also being used.

GALAX- "Drug abuse and disturbances diminished Sunday as some of the 100,000 plus people began to leave the Stompin 76 music festival."

"It's the greatest event that ever happened in the state of Virginia" , said Burl Ketchum, mater of ceremonies of the three day festival on a farm eight miles north of here."

"We had over 100,000 people, we had no overdose deaths, wee had two babies born- Stompin One and Stompin Two" said Ketchum of Danville."

"Many of the 100,000 people had a good time without touching drugs or alcohol and never fell in the mud or got hurt. But others were not so teatotalling or lucky. Early Sunday a traffic exodus started that police and volunteer workers said they expected to result in a monumental traffic jam. State Police in Wytheville reports traffic late Sunday was moving well out of the concert area and "We don't have any real problems." Many had left by 11p.m., but others were expected to stay all night to avoid the crush, according to a spokesman for a radio communications volunteer team."

"Sixty state troopers and all Carroll deputies were working."

"Stompin 76 was a nationally advertised production staged on a former cattle farm where the hillsides offered a natural amphitheater. Vehicles were parked on many hundreds of acres of surrounding land."

Two nude men flatfooted near the stage Saturday, and on Sunday one of them was dancing again w, this time wearing a Stompin 76 bumper sticker on his buttocks. He was lefty alone.

Messages were exchanged through notes posted on the sides of buildings.

One perhaps summing up Sunday's mood, asked for a ride to Philadelphia. It said : "Help! One person needs ride to Philadelphia Pa."

Abramson, the 114-pound string bean promoter who conceived, produced and promoted the biggest show in Southwest Virginia history, is a mere 21 years old. He stands stoop shouldered in a gray sweatshirt and blue jeans, flicks a cigarette nervously and talks of six months of "work and more work" in preparation for the weekend event.

The strain has taken it's toll. He says he lost 21 pounds and uncounted hours of sleep in the two weeks before the festival. "It's just been an incredible job. We've had promotions in 22 states with radio, billboards, Rolling stone and handouts," Abramson said. He estimates production expense for the festival at $350,000 of which more than $60,000 went for advertising."

Does he expect to make a profit? Abramson says no, Cactus productions will be lucky to break even. Of a total attendance of more than 100,000 more than two thirds got in free. Abramson said. He said paid attendance was only 35,000 at $12 each.

"Our Baltimore hired security did not do the job as they should have." He said. However, no major disturbances occurred, a fact which he thanked the pagans.

Most of Abramson's production crew of about 25 are like him, in their early 20's he says. He says the three-day festival's problems were caused mostly by the larger than expected numbers of people who descended on the 117-acre farm of Boyd Lawson and about 200 additional acres rented for the festival.

"Renting more land for parking, some of the farmers got a little commercial about it. Reports were that one farm of fewer than 100 acres rented for $2,000 for the three days. The crowd itself was "No problem- a very passive group-best concert crowd I've ever seen."

Late Sunday, Abramson, was frantically trying to locate the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. "They're still on the road somewhere- we don't know just where," he said.

All groups were paid a flat fee in advance, the highest paid getting $15,000, he said. Gnawing on a steak Sunday afternoon, he said, "I may go down in history but I don't think I'm going to come out of this making any bucks."