Songwriters, musicians, music lovers and more will all come together for an exciting weekend Sept. 25 and 26 at the 10th annual Smithfield Aiken & Friends Music Fest.

The event includes a variety of musical genres, including bluegrass, acoustic blues and country.

“It’s an Americana country/roots music festival,” said Mike Aiken, country musician and founder of the music festival. All of the music performed at the festival will be original pieces, and it will include performances from a variety of local, regional and national artists, he said.

Aiken, a Norfolk resident, has had five top-30 country music songs, including “Jagger and Jones,” “Love You Tonight” and “Chesapeake.”

As a performer, Aiken knows what it’s like to be an artist playing at a variety of different music festivals, he said. “You’re just another act,” he said. But when artists are treated well, they perform better, he added. That is how he got the idea for the festival.

Aiken ended up in Smithfield after outrunning a hurricane on his boat, he said. There, he made contacts with Jim and Elaine Abicht, founders of Smithfield Music, a nonprofit organization that raises money for youth music education.

Aiken’s festival works in partnership with Smithfield Music. He considers the cause important because of music’s effect on children.

“It gives youth a focus,” he said. “I was a pretty wild child. Music is the thing that kept me focused.”

Because of his experience, all proceeds of the event go to Smithfield Music.

After beginning the festival in Urbanna, where the event was held for one year, it became a 10-year tradition in Smithfield, Aiken said. He believes the festival has been successful for the past decade because of the help they offer local songwriters, the level of talent brought to the event and the way they treat the artists.

The event requires “a year’s worth of really hard work,” Aiken said. For a typical audience of about 2,000-3,000 people, Aiken and the Abichts start working on the coming year’s festival the week after the previous one is over, he said. The event also requires the help of a number of volunteers. “It’s truly a labor of love.”

There will be two local songwriting contests. In the past, there have been more than 1,000 submissions, Aiken said. Ryan Scarberry is one success story he recalled. Years after winning, Scarberry was able to create two CDs, and he will be Aiken’s guest performer during one of his shows at the festival.

The festival also offers workshops for musicians and songwriters, including one on guitar, another on songwriting and another on indie music promotion. Aiken recalled one particular successful songwriting workshop during which a 70-year-old man came and wrote a song about his late wife.

In celebration of the festival’s 10-year anniversary, guests can attend a concert from noon to 5 p.m. in downtown Smithfield for free, Aiken said. Following the concert, there will be a tailgate party in the parking lot of the Smithfield Little Theatre from 5 to 7 p.m. Participants of the tailgate party are free to pack their own dinner or purchase food from food trucks. Guests are encouraged to bring their own instruments to jam with others in the lot throughout the evening.

Aiken’s Friday night show is called “Songwriters in the Round,” and the Saturday night show is called “Tall Tales & Troubadours.” A ticket for one show costs $25, and it’s $40 to attend both. There are only 185 seats in theatre, so tickets will sell fast.

Visit www.aikenandfriendsfest.com for more information or to purchase tickets.