MONTAGUE — The Barbès in the Woods music festival made the small town of Montague feel like the center of the world on Saturday.
The globally influenced musical lineup that headlined the day’s festivities squeezed in between preceding rainfall and the looming Hurricane Henri. Cloudy skies and heat in the mid-80s did little to put a damper on the festival, as the Bartlett Farm location saw its vast field stomped down by hundreds of dancing feet.
The setup at the farm consisted of two stages — the Field Stage and the Grove Stage — that attendees could alternate back and forth from as sets finished. Several food trucks and other vendors set up shop on both sides of the field. The creek toward the rear of the site was lined with speakers playing music and a sign that invited people to wade in and cool off.
Edo Mor, festival talent buyer and emcee from Laudable Productions, said he had high hopes for turnout, relative to the number of people that Barbès in the Woods drew in 2019.
“We were expecting this to feel twice as full and it’s feeling twice as full,” Mor said. “It’s just incredibly heartening to have a turnout that exceeds expectations for music that people haven’t heard before.”
It’s this theme of curiosity and foreign appeal that made the festival stand out. Barbès in the Woods was inspired by Barbès, the bar in South Brooklyn, N.Y., that has prided itself on hosting internationally diverse live music since opening in 2003. Kyle Homestead, Laudable Productions founder and impresario, said that a primary goal was to juxtapose international relevance with the small town feel of Montague to “bring as much magic to (the area’s) nooks and crannies as possible.”
Robyn O’Brien, a Plainfield resident who attended the 2019 inaugural Barbès in the Woods festival, said Mor has done a great job sculpting the event’s identity.
“I love all he brings to the valley in terms of global music,” O’Brien said. “I love the performers. They’re quirky and wonderful.”
Performer Arooj Aftab’s Vulture Prince Ensemble member Gyan Riley said the outdoor nature of the festival was particularly exciting for him as somebody who has enjoyed performing at Barbès in Brooklyn countless times.
“This is just a really wonderful way to hear that music,” Riley said.
Another member of the ensemble, Darian Thomas, said that such a congregation was especially meaningful when considering how the COVID-19 pandemic made such gatherings difficult.
“The whole thing feels like an exercise in perseverance and persistence,” Thomas said. “I think it’s just really beautiful.”
“It’s really nice. I haven’t really done many outdoor festivals,” Aftab said. “We are really, really grateful that we are able to perform again.”
Some in attendance, regardless of locality and town connection, relished the sense of community that could be fostered in such a place.
“It’s your woods festival crowd,” said Aftab, a Brooklyn resident. “It’s really chill. Our music is like that, too, you know?”
“I just really love the sense of community,” Boston resident Kiana Garvey commented. “I just saw two people hugging and it was really amazing, especially because of the pandemic.”
Even with the festival attracting people from all over the world, organizers made it a point to emphasize that the local community deserves its own love.
“The community here is really important to us,” Homestead said.
Reach Julian Mendoza at 413-772-0261, ext. 261 or jmendoza@recorder.com.