GREENFIELD — Longtime festivalgoers and first-time attendees alike danced and lounged together at the three-day Green River Festival, now in its 35th year.
“The Green River music festival has the community rediscovering itself every year,” said Whately resident Tony Vacca, longtime festival attendee and formerly a featured performer.
While some return for the community, many festivalgoers attend for the “spectacular music,” Vacca said. The event attracts attendees from across the Northeast and beyond.
Music Lake Street Dive was the headliner on Saturday, but there were 18 other bands that listeners enjoyed throughout the hot day.
“Lake Street Dive is my favorite band,” said Chi Lin, who traveled to Greenfield from Haverhill for the festival.
Lin and other festivalgoers received a mass text from organizers alerting them that Lake Street Dive would perform an intimate acoustic pop-up set at the festival’s surprise stage at East Branch Studio.
The band performed acoustic versions of three songs. The musicians played on a melodica, tambourine, guitar and an upright bass while singing into one microphone.
“I love this festival,” Rachael Price, Lake Street Dive’s lead singer, said in an interview following the pop-up performance. “I feel at home in this area. It’s been a while since we played here. It’s good to be back.”
Musicians throughout the weekend emphasized a feeling of belonging, and the extent of crowd support at the Green River Festival.
For example, following a set by singer-songwriter Katie Pruitt, who lives in Nashville, five LGBTQ teenagers swarmed to meet her. Pruitt, who made her name in the music industry with her 2020 album “Expectations,” often tells stories in her songs of her experience as a lesbian, and her music’s themes stand out for many younger listeners.
“I went to a lot of festivals as a kid, but there were always missing storylines,” she said. “I am giving young queer people power. I hope they feel seen and represented from my performance.”
Pruitt said she felt comfortable sharing these storylines with her audience at the Green River Festival.
“Sometimes when I sing about my queerness, it doesn’t always feel safe,” she continued. “As soon as I came out on stage, it was immediate — I knew these were my people.”
Similarly, Amy Alvey of Golden Shoals noted in an interview that she has thought a lot about performing alongside men since the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on Friday to overturn Roe v. Wade, the case that recognized a constitutional right to abortion. She said it “has always been a boy’s club in this music scene.”
“They are great listeners and are aware of taking up space,” Alvey said, “but they will never understand what I go through.”
The Green River Festival’s audience, she said, showed her how much the performers’ music is appreciated.
“It was validating to play in a place like this,” Alvey explained. “Music has been so undervalued. People are inundated with music, and everyone is giving it away for free. Playing at this festival shows that people still care.”
Still other musicians spoke to the festival allowing them to bring their music to a larger stage. Northampton punk band Prune was the last act to play at the Artifact Cider Stage on Saturday, with guitarist Izzy Hagerup saying the Green River Festival marked the band’s biggest performance yet.
“The festival allowed me to feel like a rock star,” Hagerup said. “People who would never come see us got to see our show and loved our music.”
Art activities The Art Garden, a festival staple typically based in Shelburne Falls, reprised its volunteer-fueled intergenerational crafting event in the shade of a barn and tent.
According to directors Jane Beatrice Wegscheider and Laura Iveson, around 35 volunteers set up a full “menu of activities” for festivalgoers of all ages to enjoy. The variety of mixed media arts and crafts stations present included woolworking, crown-making and painting.
“We see a lot of people take materials and use them for things we’ve never really heard of,” Iveson said. “We’re all for that.”
One event involved children making two-dimensional animals out of cardboard. The collection of bugs, chickens, fish and horses was then paraded around the festival grounds at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, with the band Cha Wa following behind them.
“It’s a nice combination of the arts,” Iveson said of having The Art Garden in tandem with a music festival.
Wegscheider has observed that “some families will spend their whole time” at the festival participating in Art Garden activities. Others, she said, have held onto previous festivals’ crafts for years in their households.
“We’re a whole community with each other,” Wegscheider said. “We’re inspired by each other.”
Lined up alongside an array of other craft and vendor tents, Pittsfield-based Daisy Stone Studio prided itself on marrying its creations with the Green River Festival. The studio sold handwoven flower crowns for attendees, coherent with what one might envision when imagining the atmosphere of a large outdoor music festival.
“When someone comes to the booth, it’s just magical,” founder Susie Hanna said. “They put the crown on and they just light up. We’re giving them a gift, but they’re giving us a gift as well.”
Like The Art Garden’s guests, patrons of Daisy Stone Studio sometimes cherish their pieces long-term, Hanna said.
“Some people save their crowns year-round,” she said, having observed “familiar faces” return and voice their appreciation. “It’s very heartwarming.”
Hanna has even spotted her creations on stage, being worn by musicians.
Perhaps the most grand display of visual art resided within the fairgrounds’ Roundhouse, which organizer Dawn Barrett transformed into an art gallery. She curated works from past clients, friends and family to turn a space that was in “really rough” condition into a suitable environment to enjoy art and locally sourced refreshments as part of the festival’s VIP lounge.
“I think it’s historic,” she said of the Roundhouse. “I think it’s fantastic. I want to see it used more often.”
The art on display represented a variety of styles, which Barrett said reflected the artists responsible.
“Their personalities are totally expressed in their work,” she said. “It’s a funky bunch.”
Closing thoughts from the president Michael Nelson, president of the Franklin County Agricultural Society that manages the fairgrounds, said Sunday afternoon that attendees’ enthusiasm to enjoy themselves despite 90-degree temperatures has helped cultivate “a really great environment to be in.” Now in its second year being held at the Franklin County Fairgrounds, he said, the Green River Festival has thrived in the new venue and “everybody has a rhythm.”
“It was a good first event and this one’s proven to be even better,” Nelson said.
As the 2022 Green River Festival concludes, Nelson looks forward to continuing the tradition at the fairgrounds going forward.
“I hope this is a start of many years to come because they’re such fun and such great people,” he said of the festival staff.
Contact Bella Levavi at blevavi@recorder.com or 413-930-4579. Reach Julian Mendoza at 413-772-0261, ext. 261 or jmendoza@recorder.com.