Vermont Music Fest expands to two days

The Vermont Music Festival will be a two-night festival next year when it returns to Waitsfield August 19 through 21.

Mad River Valley Rotary spokesperson Karl Klein came to the Waitsfield Select Board on November 30 seeking a festival permit for the expanded event. The Vermont Music Festival has been a one-day event held at the Lareau Farm for the past five years. This summer was the first year that the local Rotarians produced the event.

Klein told the board that the festival will now be held in Kenyon’s field at the north end of town.

“We had a great festival last year. We had such a good time we decided we want to try doing it again,” Klein told the board, which unanimously approved the festival permit application.

Klein said that there were no reported issues arising from the Rotary’s first year of producing the festival. He explained that current plans call for RV and tent camping, starting Friday night with music from 6 to 10 p.m. that night, August 19.

The music on Saturday will run from noon until 6 p.m. and again from 7 to 10 p.m. On Sunday, August 21, there will be a bluegrass brunch or maybe some other type of brunch, Klein said, and the venue will be cleared by noon.

“We have spoken with Bow Thayer who put on the Tweed Fest at Kenyon’s last summer about being our entertainment for one of the evenings. We understand the challenges that arose from the Tweed Fest last year and we heard the community’s concerns and we will be sure it doesn’t happen again,” Klein said.

The select board heard a fair amount of community concern about the music running beyond the permitted hours at the Tweed River Music Festival last summer. Klein assured the board that that would not happen at the Vermont Music Fest next year.

He pointed out that the Rotary will have security at the festival site as well as traffic-calming measures and sheriffs, if needed, to help cars enter and leave the site.

Klein told the board that the local Rotarians prize their reputation in the community and said that the producers of the festival would not do anything to taint or damage that reputation.