About to celebrate it’s 29th edition, the Green River Festival in Greenfield, MA has been flying under the radar. Which is ironic, since the festival features four hot air balloon launches, including a Saturday night balloon glow. The festival takes place July 10-12 at the Greenfield Community College.
The festival is family friendly, offering free admission to kids 10 and under, and activities such as an art garden, frisbee dog show, acrobats, Mardi Gras style parade and more. Then of course the children won’t want to miss the balloon launches. There is even the opportunity to take a ride in one! The festival is food friendly too, featuring vendors from local area restaurants. It’s not your usual festival fare, with exotic burgers like elk, boar and venison, a Korean food truck, Tibetan food, kabobs and so much more.
That’s all well and good, but what about the music? With three stages and over 40 performers, you won’t be able to see it all. It is a diverse lineup, skewing toward Americana music, but stretching into world, dance, funk, jazz, blues and jam. It is a great mix to keep you on your toes all weekend. Things get started Friday night with Eilen Jewell headlining a 20th year celebration for festival promoter Signature Sounds on one stage, while a Latin night featuring M.A.K.U. Sound System is hosted on a second stage. A full slate of bands is scheduled across all three stages on Saturday, featuring Rubblebucket, The Wood Brothers, tUnE-yArDs, Marco Benevento, Milk Carton Kids, Langhorne Slim and the Law and much more. Sunday goes all day also, with The Punch Brothers, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Valerie June, Parker Millsap and more, before Steve Earle and the Dukes closes the festival down. For the full lineup and schedule click here.
Gates open at 5 p.m. Friday and noon on Saturday and Sunday. Three day passes and individual day tickets are still available, and can be purchased here. There is limited on-site parking and passes are almost sold out, so get on those quickly. Otherwise, there will be satellite lots with shuttle service to and from the festival site.
Please visit the very informative festival web site for more information.
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