Lakewood Ranch's Winterfest announces additions to lineup

   The lineup of acts slated to appear at Winterfest, the new two-day music festival at Lakewood Ranch, is filling up.
   Seven more acts were announced Monday: country star Ty Herndon, The Alabama Blues Brothers, Hotel California, The Backtrack Blues Band, Highway to Hell, Elvis impersonator Joseph Hall and the Mudbugs Cajun and Zydeco Band.
    Except for  Herndon, none have the name recognition of the stars that had previously been announced -- Alabama founder Jeff Cook, Jefferson Airplane's Marty Balin, Rick Derringer and Edgar Winter and "Key Largo" singer Bertie Higgins -- and four are tribute acts.

Ty Herndon

   Country stalwart Billy Dean, 11-year-old guitar phenom Jake Castro and popular locals the Billy Rice Band are also among the acts announced originally.
   More additions are yet to be announced.
   “There are still a few acts we are asked not to announce until later,” said Jim Chiaffredo, the spokesperson for Winterfest.
   The festival is scheduled to run from 10 a.m. until 11 p.m. March 29-30 at the Premier Sports Complex in Lakewood Ranch.
   Winterfest officials predict about 20,000 people will attend each day. They say they plan to make Winterfest an annual event.
   Regular one-day tickets are $11.34 for kids ages 3-10, $16.52 for ages 11-17 with a valid student ID and $26.87 for adults.
   Two-day tickets are also available for $42.39. (No two-day tickets are available for kids or students, at least at this time.)
   You can also get VIP tickets for $259.74 per day, or $363.24 for both days. Those tickets get you into an air-conditioned VIP area.
   You can buy tickets at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/435550, and you can get festival information at www.lwrwinterfest.com.