Green River Festival

July 20, 2018

Robert Earl Keen

 

Green River Festival

Kathy’s family reunion just happened to be held on the same weekend and somewhat in the same vicinity as the Green River Music and Arts Festival which is held each year in Greenfield, Massachusetts. Not only was it fairly easy for us to attend, we had something of in an as the sister of one of our best friends in Key West was in charge of the arts portion of the festival.

 

Michael and Tiffany

We have known our friend Nadene for close to 30 years and her sister Tiffany lives nearby the festival location as is one of the main organizers and staff of the event, so we had the added bonus of getting to see her while we were attending another wonderful music festival. Named one of “fifty essential summer music festivals” by The New York Times, Green River Festival celebrated thirty two years with three days of music: a spectacular lineup of over 30 acts on four stages, the best in local food, beer and wine and handmade arts and crafts. 

Chuck Prophet 

Kathy and I were only able to make it for the final day, but we were thrilled to even have a chance to see that as one of our favorite performers, Robert Earl Keen was on the bill. Ironically, Keen is an annual visitor to Key West as part of the Key West Songwriters Festival that Nadene organizes in Key West. Obviously these talented and creative sisters share a talent for organization and a love for their respective communities.

I'm With Her 

Molly Tuttle

We drove from Georgetown over to a hotel that was nearby Greenfield and upon waking up on Sunday we had breakfast in town and took a short, wonderful hike through the nearby Poets Seat area, which is a cool wooded area near town before heading over to the festival. It was a really hot, sunny day, but the festival grounds offered plenty of shaded areas.

There were four main music stages and one “secret” stage where bands would show up every so often only after being announced only through the festival app. That was one of the coolest things that I have seen at any festival as the bands would show up on a tiny stage around the corner and mostly out of site from the main stage and play 3-5 songs in front of the small crowd gathered there. It was awesome.

 

I would say I was familiar with about half of the bands that were in the line-up for Sunday including Chuck Prophet, Ana Tijoux, Robert Earl Keen and Old Crow Medicine Show, but the ones who we were totally unfamiliar with turned out to be a really awesome group and we had a fantastic day enjoying discovering a lot of great new music.

Kate Lorenz

Chris Smither

Kathy

Among the new to us bands were Molly Tuttle, Chris Smither, I’m With Her, the Ballroom Thieves, the Brother Brothers, Kate Lorenz and the Constellations and the James Hunter Six. Of those we really, really loved Molly Tuttle and I’m With Her. Chris Smither was fantastic as well and none were bad. It was a great afternoon of fantastic music.

The Brother Brothers 

Of course it was Robert Earl Keen who we were really there to see and he did not disappoint. Playing with his full band, which is always absent when he plays in Key West, Keen performed a much more powerful set. The fact that his set list seemed to contain almost all of my most favorite songs of his and it was one of the best performances of his that I have seen.

In another fun surprise, we ran into our friend Gretchen from Key West who was at the festival with her parents who she was visiting and live in the area. What a small but wonderful world we truly live in. The Green River festival was another winner and it was so cool that it worked out that we could attend.

https://www.greenriverfestival.com/

“Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.”-George Burns

July 17, 2018

Cousins

 

“Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.”-George Burns

The older (and hopefully) more mature I get, the more and more important that family and friends become in my life. Really as much as it may seem that Kathy and I travel around to a seemingly endless array of fun events and activities, our true joy is found in more quiet moments together or spending time with family or friends that I generally don’t spend a lot of effort posting about in this blog or elsewhere. Everyone has those family issues that create strain or sometimes even estrangement, but I am of the belief that there are few things in life as important as your family.

With that in mind Kathy and I had decided to make this trip to Massachusetts to attend a family get together of her family that was held at the beautiful Camp Denison in Georgetown. The gathering was of the Kilroy/ Lacey and Fitzgerald side of her father’s family and was an opportunity to catch up with all sorts of her relatives and extended family in a relaxed, truly beautiful setting.

 

 

This was the first time that Kathy and I had made it to this particular reunion and it was really a wonderful time. I especially enjoy the opportunity to see so many of Kathy’s family members, to meet some that I had not previously encountered and to reconnect with those that we see, but not all that often. Kathy’s father comes from a huge family and all but one of Kathy’s surviving aunts and uncles were on hand along with many of their extended families as well. 

 

Meeting these wonderful people always gives me better insight into my lovely wife as each time I learn more and more about her background. The reunion was held at a beautiful natural area, Camp Denison which is a 44 acre parcel of land set aside as a conservation area. The family gathering took over the really cool Great Hall Lodge which was built in 1931 and still holds that old time campground atmosphere of a bygone era. It is truly lovely.

 

The Great Hall overlooks a beautiful small pond, Baldpate Pond, which is also a beautiful typical Massachusetts pond much like the more famous Walden Pond which people are familiar with. The grounds are full of cool trails through the woods and there are all sorts of recreational and natural experiences available. 

It was a perfect setting and a beautiful summer day for the event and the food and drinks were plentiful. But it was the people that made it so special. Many of Kathy’s relatives are friends of mine on facebook, but real life meetings are so much more meaningful. Kathy’s sister Julie and her family were there, but unfortunately her brother Chris and his family could not make it out this trip. So many aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins and more were on hand, but many, many more were not able to make it.

 

 

It is a bit strange to be a part of such a huge extended family on Kathy’s side, my own family does not have nearly the number of branches on the family tree and we seemingly seldom get together other than for weddings and funerals. After attending this fun reunion, I wish that my family would be more proactive about getting together but until that happens, I guess I will just have to enjoy every chance to spend time with family whenever it happens.