"Dukes Of Hazzard" Fest Set For June

"The Dukes Of Hazzard," which ended its run on prime-time TV in 1985, is still popular enough to draw tens of thousands of fans to Nashville for the annual Dukesfest.

Country music network CMT announced Wednesday that this year's event will take place in Music City during the first weekend in June.

"The Dukes of Hazzard," which ran from 1979 to 1985, was a surprise hit for CBS, combining with "Dallas" to earn some of the highest Friday-night ratings in television history.

The show pitted "good-ol' boys" Bo and Luke Duke and their moonshine-running Uncle Jesse against the crooked politician Boss Hogg and his bumbling henchman, Sheriff Coltrane, in fictional Hazzard County.

"Dukes" was also famous for its numerous high-speed car chases, featuring Bo and Duke's 1969 Dodge Charger they called the General Lee.

Reruns of the show began airing on CMT in 2005 and have earned some of the best ratings ever on the country music cable channel.

In 2005, Jessica Simpson starred in a feature film based on the show.

Ben Jones, a former Georgia congressman who played "Crazy Cooter" on the show, and his wife Alma, created DukesFest eight years ago in the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia.

This year's event will be held once again at Nashville's Music City Motorplex at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds.

"Last year we drew more than 70,000 people to the Motorplex over two days," Jones said in a statement. "The city said it was the largest gathering of its kind ever in the city."

Organizers say that DukesFest 2007 will feature two days of personal appearances by stars from the show, "Hazzard style" music, plus car stunts by the original "Dukes" stunt drivers. There will also be an appearance of more than 100 General Lees.

Proceeds from the event are earmarked to benefit the Children's Fund at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt.