By Madison Butkus
Hometown Weekly Reporter
Bellforge Arts Center is back again with their FieldFest Music Festival just in time to kick off the warm weather. Local music happens to be one of the heartbeats of Bellforge Arts Center, so the 2023 live music season has officially begun this past Saturday. Performances included Jennifer Tefft, Jamie Walker, Shotgun Waltz, and Sunshine Riot. These bands are from the “Bellforge Triangle,” which are those from the areas of Boston, Worcester, and Providence. Their alternative rock sounds filled the Arts Center with friends and family alike, singing and dancing along.
Live music was not the only highlight of this event. Food trucks were also in attendance, along with some of the area’s best brews. People within the crowd were seen bringing their own chairs and blankets to enjoy a picnic-style lunch with some amazing music to accompany it. If that was not enough, volunteers within the Arts Center had set up activities for children and families to enjoy together like bean bag toss, chalk, a giant Connect-Four and Jenga game, as well as some soccer balls and nets.
Paul Armstrong, the head honcho of the FieldFest Music Festival, went on to state, “This is our celebration of local musicians. This is our first music festival of the year. We are doing Fun at The ‘Forge next, which focuses on kids. We are doing a fitness event next week, the 5k run. We will be doing Shakespeare in the summer and a sort of beer-garden set up on the back of the chapel called Summer Sounds. We will be doing larger music festivals in the fall. There is something for everyone here.” Almost all of the events hosted by Bellforge Arts Center are free of charge and are open for anyone and everyone to attend.
With so many rainy days we have had recently, the FieldFest Music Festival lucked out with sunny and 75 degree weather. In response to this, Armstrong stated amusingly, “We do sun dances each morning. Not rain dances, we do sun dances.” One could say those sun dances really worked out for this weekend and hopefully for all the future events coming up.
For more information about upcoming events at the Bellforge Arts Center, please visit their website at bellforge.org.
