The Great Blue Heron Festival

Main Stage

Full House/Hillside

Rocking Out

Uninhibited Fun

It's 6:30 and I have been up an hour, on a bright sunny morning, a shimmering lake and a cool 53º.  I heard bass boats roar out my window and thinking it was 6:00, I came downstairs only to discover it was 5:30.  Then, at 6:00, another group of bass boats took off, confusing me more.  There must be more than one tournament.  Not so as I found out on my morning paddle.  There are two groups of bass boats, one takes off at 5:30, the other at 6:00, according to bass fishermen I talked to this morning.

5:37

6:03

Sandpiper

Yesterday was our typical Saturday morning with a few exceptions.  It started, for me, with a long paddle, for Evie, watering her garden early morning.  We then did a few things that needed doing, like hanging the blackout curtains in the TV room, something Evie has been wanting for months (years). Since Saturday is trash day, Evie went through both freezers, throwing out that stuff that tends to hide until you clean it out a year later.  I then drove to the Transfer Center, very busy because of the fourth of July weekend.  We also started organizing for our late afternoon and evening at the Great Blue Heron Music Festival in Sherman. It's a three-day event, with three stages, bands that play from noon till midnight, all kinds of food trucks and shopping stalls, and camping for thousands.  It's been going on for 27 years, sort of a mini Woodstock, and this was our second visit.

Around 1:00, Evie made a delicious salmon salad, which we shared and I watched England go two up on Sweden.  I did not care much who won but England clearly outplayed the Swedes.  Evie went out on the dock to read until it was time to gather our backpacks, drinks, food, insect repellent, and chairs and drive twenty minutes to the Festival.  We arrived at 3:30, had a brief wait for tickets, sixty bucks a piece, then parked off in a field, about a half mile from the venue.

Tractor Bringing In Another Load From The Parking Area

We were fortunate to get a ride to the main venue from the parking area.  It's a crowded hill, overlooking, the main stage, with thousands in chairs, blankets, or just sitting.  We walked around (Evie relying on her walking stick) looking for a good spot and found a roped off area, the Beer Garden, and settled in there despite the fact that we did not drink their beer.  No one seemed to bother us or ask us to leave and it was a perfect place, shady with a great view of the main stage.

Uncle Ben's Remedy Going Wild

We left our backpacks and chairs at the table and went to the dance tent to hear one of our favorite bands, UNCLE BEN'S REMEDY.  We heard them last fall at THE WHITE CARROT fall gathering and liked them.  They are energetic and fun, the dance floor was packed with young and old, many in hippy era regalia.  We loved it and stayed until they finished.

Evie And Judy,  Our New Pittsburgh BFF

Rochester Guys At The Beer Garden

We then went back to the Beer Garden to listen to another band we were familiar with, THE SUN KING WARRIORS because they have played in Jamestown at the benefit for the Infinity Music Group.  We struck up a conversation with Judy, a part-time disc jockey from Pittsburgh, and had fun talking with her for an hour as we sipped our first beer, ate Pringles and pretzels and occasionally listened to the band.

Happy Heron

Dressing For The Festival

Lots Of Variety

An Old Hippie, Lovin It

Hanging Out At The Heron

Part of the fun is just walking, visiting the clothes stalls, watching the variety of music fans, many dressed in bizarre outfits, their chance to be uninhibited.  There were also many families, with kids of all ages, running around, seemingly unaccompanied by their parents.  And there were parents with infants as well as a few concertgoers our age, to round out the eras.

Smackdab, From Jamestown

SMACKBAB, our other favorite band, from Jamestown, was playing in the Dance Tent at 6:30, so we talked Judy into going to hear them and she loved them.  We stood around bopping to their energetic tunes, and with the addition of a saxophone player, they were better than ever. They had been on a hiatus for at least six months but it did not show.  They loved playing and the hundreds if not a thousand fans loved them as well.

Camping With Tie Dye Privacy Curtains

We then went back to the Beer Garden, cracked open another beer and listened to another band we liked from our previous visit, DRIFTWOOD, a folk/rock band from North Carolina.  The crowd loved them, especially the gal who played the fiddle or violin, as she knocked the crowd out with her play.  We got a little tired of them by the end, however, as they seemed repetitious but still good.   We then walked around waiting for the final band, from Rochester, GIANT PANDA  GUERILLA DUB SQUAD, a reggae band from Rochester.  Earlier, we had stuck up a conversation with a bunch of guys from Rochester who said they are great, their favorite band.

Neighbors From The Hood

We ran into our neighbors, Joe and Betsy and their friends, who were taking in the music and the people watching like us.  Their friends were camping and said when they checked in on Friday, the first day, there were 30 police cars checking each vehicle as they entered the grounds, for fireworks and drugs we thought.

We then gathered our stuff, set it aside near the staging area for the wagons and went down into the dance mob, standing and gyrating in front of the stage,  and listened to GIANT PANDA before deciding that we had enough music and people watching for the night.  We walked down, in the dark, past revelers and night lights to the entrance and were lucky to get another ride in a golf cart back to our car.

The End 

We took our time driving home, wondering if the police were out spot checking but we did not notice any on our way home.  Most of the revelers were camped, fewer were day visitors like us.  We were home by 10:15, exhausted from our fun afternoon and evening and happy to be home.  We were not the oldest there but close to it.

At The Heron, July 6, 2014

Last Weekend Of Summer - Harmony Historical Society Fall Festival

7:12

7:12

7:15

7:32

A hazy morning on the lake, the sun's rays muted at first by a thin veil of clouds. I was up later than usual, 6:45, in time to see the sunrise, the lake a vast liquid of gray.  It's  already 67º as Indian summer continues on the last weekend of summer.  No complaints.  And another kayak morning.

8:28

Jerusalem Artichokes Along Long Point Shore

Yesterday ended up being a really fun Saturday although we were not sure what we were going to do when we got up.  I did get my paddle in despite the fog but I could not get out onto the lake until 9:00 because of the fog.  Once it dissipated, yesterday was a busy day on the lake as anyone who owned a boat was out, enjoying the last gasp of summer.  We cleaned up the kitchen, got the trash together and I was off for my weekly journey to the Transfer Station.

Confederate Paraphanelia

Weaving Yarn From Retriever hair, wool, and silk

Kitchen in Matson House

A Pack Of Boxers

Earlier, while I was browsing through the local paper, I saw that the Harmony Historical Society, about a 15-minute ride from our house, was having a festival, with lots of crafts from yore, like spinning wool, open-hearth cooking, tatting, bow making, and music.  We thought it might be fun so we drove off around 11:00 with low expectations.

Old Dawg Bluegrass Band

Fortunately, we really enjoyed it, staying for a couple of hours, listening to the music, talking with the artisans at the various demonstrations, viewing the amazing quilts on display and witnessing the reenactment of a Civil War battle.  Yep, various soldiers, mostly young kids were dressed in either Confederate Gray or Union blue.  They had regulation tents, were making bullets out of rolled paper, talked about their roles and seemed to have great fun as they enacted the battle. Yesterday, the Confederates won but today, the Union will prevail.

Evie And A Union General

Confederate Soldier

Union Soldier

We had fun taking photos of the various individuals in authentic garb from that period and both of us were a bit uncomfortable as many spectators seemed to be wearing Confederate hats, flying their flags.  It was well organized, lots of helpful volunteers who take their local history seriously.  We had never been in the center of the grounds, the Matson House, a historically accurate home, inside and out from the early 1800's.

Confederate Soldiers Defending Their Ground

Yankee Charge

Battle Ends

We were home by 1:00, in time for my lunch, pizza, and black bean soup, again.  After doing a few things around the house Evie got her bathing suit on, grabbed her beach bag and went out to enjoy the dock on the busy lake.  I joined her around 2:30 until 4:00 when we decided on a long boat ride, beyond the bridge, up to the Cheney farm with a slow cruise home along the shoreline.  We have not been up this way all summer so it was a fun way to fill up the afternoon and many other boaters had the same idea.  All of the slips at Bemus Point and the Casino were filled, as weekenders were out enjoying the fine weather.

We were pooped by the time we returned, obviously tired out from our big morning but Evie had enough mojo to put together an eggplant and tomato pasta, really tasty and we watched a movie from 2001 called Ghost World about a couple of mopey teenagers who strike up a relationship with an introverted and strange man.  A recluse, the girls gradually grow to like and understand him after at first, making fun of him.  A different kind of film, we liked all of it but the ending.

Thought Of The Day:

The Great Blue Heron Festival 2014 - Happy Heron in Sherman, NY

The Great Blue Heron Festival

 I slept in till after 7:00...last night's excitement must have worn me out.  It's a partly cloudy morning, some sun, some clouds, a cool 55º, another enjoyable day on the lake.  Surprisingly, not much action and it's almost 8:00...who's to complain.  Tomorrow the rains arrive so we had better enjoy the day.

Yesterday, like the 4th was an amazing day, the kind we would love to repeat.  We started with a kayak paddle around 9:15.  We did our usual, a large circular paddle over to Long Point, then to the Marina, and back to Wells Bay and home.  It takes about an hour.  It's interesting how many kayaks and paddle boards have become popular.  I can remember when we were about the first people to have a kayak on the lake, and people looked at us as if we were odd.  Why kayak on a lake?  Now it's like kayak overload, especially yesterday morning.  At one  time, we saw a group of five kayaks paddle by...will have to come up with a name for a group of kayaks...a 'paddle' of kayaks went by?

We enjoyed the dock and water the rest of the afternoon, my only chore, a trip to the very busy Transfer Station.  It was relaxing on the dock, or in the yard, so we did lots of reading and I watched some of the World Cup, as Argentina beat Belgium.

At 4:00, we left for the The Great Blue Heron Festival, a yearly musical happening, featuring various genres but mostly Bluegrass.  We have never been so we wanted to see what it was like because we had heard so much about it.  And it was a beautiful day to participate, sunny but in the 70's.  The venue's only about 25 minutes from our house, set on 400 acres in the lovely green hills of Chautauqua County.  We arrived at a vintage 1960's type of happening, women in tie dyes, gauze like India print dresses, taking our money from a beat up shack, forty dollars a piece for the day, ten for parking, not bad if you consider you get to hear 15 or 20 bands or more if you spend the day.  And best of all, though there was lots of drinking and pot smoking, at least 90% of the people camped, thus avoiding any drunk driving accidents.

Out of Place at The Heron

Spending five hours at the festival was a amazing experience in many ways.  For one, I finally felt my age, dressed in Bean's hiking pants, a REI long sleeve tee, so different from the looks favored by most, anything that might have been popular back in the 1960's, as you can see from the photographs below.

Patriot

Cool Couple

The Normals

Generation Z

Sixties Throwbacks

Everyone seemed to dress in the Woodstock fashion, a trip of nostalgia, reminding me of Hawaii, and the rock concerts in the Diamond Head Bowl, filled with hippies of all ages.  All ages were present, from toddlers to retirees like us, many looking like 'Dead Heads,' or followers of Phish.  There were three or four music venues, the Main Stage, the Dance Stage, and the Tiger Maple, a cool venue set in the dense woods, surrounded by tents, many hidden by large dye tied sheets, both functional and artistic.

In the Shade

Prepared With Coolers, Blankets and Food

Getting To Know You

Hoopsters

The Variety of the Crowd

We stood near the front of the band Driftwood, which was playing when we arrived.  It was warm, even hot, though behind us on the hill, thousands were sitting in the shade.  We really like the band, Bluegrass but interesting, great voices, interesting music, with a bass, violin, banjo and guitar.  I would buy their CD in a minute.

Lead Singer of Driftwood

Creperie

Kids Tent

Mom

Drummer and Friends

Favorite Signage

After Driftwood finished, we walked around, getting a feel for the place, the kids area, with toys, sandboxes, and games for the little ones.  Behind the major stage, were all the booths, selling all kinds of foods and drinks, a typical carnival feel,  Next to them were the small boutiques, like a craft show, selling their wares though none seemed very busy.  Behind the booths, were tents and small RV's where the vender's spent the night.  Then outside this, were vast hills and woods, people with tent after tent, as the crowd by one of the 800 volunteers that work the festival estimated at 8000.

Evie with Sandy and Craig Westin,  Owners of Panama Rocks

We had laughed when we read that there was going to be a special area for golden agers, The Silver Heron Lounge, but we found it to have some of the best seats in the house, in the shade, and it was empty.  So we spent a good part of the night sitting there, enjoying the music.  Lots of people our age walked by, and we all had a good laugh, knowing that we all fit in.  Most moved on, few stayed like us.

Tent City

Hanging Out, Hanging High

Forest Art

After Driftwood, Big Leg Emma, a popular local band, played so we decided to walk the camping area.  We walked down a heavily tree path called the Dragon's Den.  It was surprisingly cool and jam packed with tents, lots of young, sitting around campfires, drinking, eating, smoking pot.  We ended up at a small lodge, which sold food  but also had a venue for a band.  It was the Tiger Maple Venue and we sat in the front row and listened to a great seven piece group from West Virginia play Bluegrass, as people danced in front, mostly clogging, one guy even brought a small board to clog on in case the ground was too soft.  What a great place to play, to enjoy music, to dance, the roof over us all trees, the cool dampness of the shade.  It made me want to buy and tent and camp out next year!

Stewed Mulligans from West Virginia

We walked back to The Silver Lodge, saying 'Happy Heron' to everyone we passed, the mantra for the weekend.  The vibes at the entire festival were so amazing, such friendliness, from all ages, everyone saying hello or happy heron, not a hint of anger or unkind word, just everyone getting along, loving the music, the spectacle of it, the feeling of people happy with the moment.

As we neared The Silver Lodge, we passed a group and one of the women said to me, "You sure have a beautiful wife,"  This comment came out of nowhere though I readily agreed.  She then talked with Evie, and added, 'O, don't worry.  I like men."  A memorable moment, unexpected, but generous.  This gives you some idea of the ambiance at the Heron.  We then watched a band from North Carolina, and Evie struck up a conversation with two women from the Finger Lakes, who have been to the Heron numerous times. They were a little younger than us, camped for the weekend and they mentioned the best band was playing at midnight.  We then went down to the front of the main stage, and rocked with lots of others to the sounds of the band, knocking a beach ball around as we listened.

Big Leg Emma, Local Favorites

Holy Ghost  Tent Revival from North Carolina

We ended the night listening to a Jamestown band, Smack Dab, which we have liked and  heard a number of times.  We forced our way almost up to the stage, part of the mash pit, but felt out of it with hundreds of teens and twenty year olds, the guys in tee shirts, beers in hand, the girls scantily clad, with head bands, beads, the works.

Purple Chic

Whooped

We stayed for two songs, then walked though the early evening crowds, listening to the music of another band, before walking back to our car, outside the main park. Even outside the park, the pasture was filled with RV's, those who did not want to stay in a tent.  People sat in front of their RV's, around fires, as kids played on the grass, with a grand view of the entire park.

The Cowboy and His Tractor

It was a memorable day, as close to Woodstock as I have ever gotten.  We will go back...if it's not wet or hot, either of which could ruin the day.