For music lovers: Bellows Falls Festival debuts Saturday

BELLOWS FALLS — The inaugural Bellows Falls Festival debuts this Saturday with live bands, food trucks, craft vendors and a beer tent.

The festival, a joint project of The Wild Goose Players and the Rotary Club of Bellows Falls, hopes to bring people downtown to the Waypoint Center to enjoy live music, said David Stern, the founder of Wild Goose and a member of the local Rotary Club.

The festival starts at 1 p.m. and will conclude at 10 p.m. Tickets range from $15 to $30.

Stern said there will be six bands, many of them local, including performances from Wild Goose Players, as well as Keene Pride.

"Support the local music scene," is the festival's motto.

Stern said the festival was started to show that Bellows Falls fosters "a more cultural vibrant town."

Other bands include the Ben Jennings Quartet's funky dance grooves to the Americana stories, and the dual harmonies of the Milk House Heaters. Gaslight Tinkers and Blue Motel will round out the afternoon. In the evening, The Mammals will bring their indie-folk ballads and fiddle and banjo driven foot stompers. Singer/songwriter Sarah Borges will take the stage with a mix of country, blues and roots rock. Her music is described as "walking that fine line between punk and country."

Stern said the bands represent "something for everyone's musical taste."

During a recent evening, Stern and a troupe from Wild Goose Players rehearsed their performance outside the Waypoint Center, where the festival will take place.

With his cell phone playing the music from Delta Rae, which in turn was picked up by a small but powerful Bose speaker, the players, swinging short lengths of chain, gave a dramatic and powerful presentation of Rae's song "I Will Never Die," which has been described as the perfect passionate Southern Gothic song.

"’I’m gonna lose these chains,’" the Wild Goose Players sang in close harmony, accompanied by a thumping timpani.

"I think it's a great piece of theater," said Stern, as he directed the troupe, wearing animal masks, through its paces.

Wild Goose is using a fog machine to add some additional theater. "It should be a spectacle," he said.

In addition to the bands, food will be available from Jamaican Jewelz, Bellows Falls Moose Club, Smokin’ Bowls and Tito's Taqueria. Donovan's will provide adult beverages. Sweets will be for sale from Park's Place and the Bellows Falls Woman's Club.

The festival is being described as a family friendly event, and there is no smoking on the grounds. While there will be a large tent set up with some chairs, people should bring a blanket or additional chairs, Stern said.

Additional information, including ticket sales, can be found at www.bellowsfallsfestival.org.

Contact Susan Smallheer at [email protected].