September 7, 2024 • 19 mins
The crisp days of fall are starting to settle in, and that means it's time to celebrate the cranberry harvest! Each year in Harwich, the community comes together for the Harwich Cranberry Arts and Music Festival, where you can find unique arts and crafts from local artisans, performances from New England bands, and all the tasty food you can eat. Kathy Kirch and Bob Weiser share all the details on this week's show.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend.
Each week we come together and talk about all the
topics important to you and the place where you live.
It is so good to be back with you again
this week. I'm Nicole Davis. Summer is starting to wane.
We're back to school, getting back to work, and now
we have those crisp days and cool nights of early fall,
(00:27):
although you know around here it can actually be a
little bit finicky and we have those repeat summers sort
of into October. Anyway, that being said, it is coming
into cranberry harvest season and on the Cape, the aptly
named Cranberry Arts and Music Festival in Harwich is the
place to be Live bands from all over the region
are coming down to perform. Local artisans are going to
(00:48):
be coming to offer up all kinds of unique arts
and crafts. This is an ideal event not just for
crafters and music lovers, but families and anybody else who
wants to swing by. So let's talk about this. Kathy
Couch and Bob Weiser are here to do just that.
It is so good to have you both, Kathy. How
long has this been going on in Harwich?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
From what I understand, the Harvest Cranberry Festival has been
in existence almost fifty years. I think they're on year
forty seven, and it used to be much bigger than
what it is now. But it's something that you know,
the families remember and they've tried to maintain it as
best they can. It's a yearly event.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
So when people come to the festival. Now, obviously there's
music and we're going to talk about that in a minute,
but the arts. You have a lot of crafters who
come to this event.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Yes, technically we do three kraft bears. We have one
in the second weekend of July, the second one is
the second weekend in August, and the third one is
our biggest one, the one that is the second weekend
of September. We'll get at least one hundred and fifty crafters.
It seems to be something that is well known and
people travel specifically for that weekend to come here. And
(02:01):
everything is held outside, which gives it a very different atmosphere.
It's all held behind the Harwich Community Center. They have
a giant field area where we can set up the crafters,
food trucks, music and parking.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
So bob Let's switch gears and head over to talk
with you for a minute, because you are the man
with the plan when it comes to all these acts
that are coming for the music side of the festival.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
As the music director, I'm responsible for what we call
the cran Jam, which is the dance party that is
now part of the Cranberry Festival. I am responsible for
the beer and wine concession and the music stage. We
have a tent, we have a dance floor, we have
(02:48):
a stage. We have a bunch of great bands.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
You have five performing on Saturday and two performing on Sunday.
So let's start with Saturday the fourteenth, starting off with
the druma Queen.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
So are they well, The druma Queens are all women group.
As you might guess from the Queen May minute, they
are in all women's percussion ensemble. Like to describe themselves
as creating joyful noise and positive healing vibrations wherever and
whenever they perform. I have to say that I have
(03:24):
seen them perform on numerous occasions, but we've never had
them at the festival before. And they're going to kick
things off around noontime on Saturday. It's a very engaged
performance that they do, their rhythms and their energy, the
variety of material that they include. I think what happens
(03:45):
is they never leave anybody without a smile on their
face by the time they're.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Done, for sure. So then you get your beer, you
get your snacks, and you're under the dance tent and
then on comes Woof Woof mew a band that I'm
loving this name. Tell me about.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Wolff Well Wolfwoffmia is an Outer Cape band. If you
know about life on the Cape, you know that the
Forearm part of the Cape and the Upper Arm part
of the Cape, even though there are different towns on
each part. The Foundmouth to Orleans part of the Cape
is a little bit more straight if you will, you know.
(04:21):
They're the communities that include commuters off the Cape in
the Boston area and lots of year round folks who
many of whom are retired and here year round, and
many of whom are the craft people who take care
of all of the building and construction and maintenance that
is necessary for an area that includes an awful lot
(04:43):
of people who aren't here all year. The Outer Cape,
on the other hand, has a different vibe to it.
The percentage of people involved in the arts increases the
further out you go on the Cape. But if you've
never been here, the outer Cape is the Provincetown artist community,
in the Truro community, in the Wealth Yet community. These
(05:07):
are places with a different aesthetics. A Wolf of Me
out comes out of the Outer Cape scene. They are
very grassroots in their approach. Their music includes an element
of ska, an element of punk. There's some reggae, some
New Waves, some originals, some covers. They like to describe
themselves as inspiring folks to celebrate the Earth by dancing.
(05:32):
So you see how we're following the Drummer Queens with
this band that includes bass and guitar and singing and
percussion and drum kit and a different range of instrumentation.
And they mentioned to me covers of people like Bob
(05:55):
Marley and Fella Cuti and Prince and Victor h and
the B fifty two's, though I'm not certain the name
actually comes from the fact that the original three members,
two of them had dogs, and one of them had
a cat.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Natalia Bonfini, I think I've got her name right. Natalia
Bonfini tell me about her and her band.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
There's a bunch of things I want to tell you
about Natalia Bonfini and her band. Natalia has won the
New England Songwriters Competition, received Honorable Mentioned in song Doors
International Competition, and she was among the top fifty finalists
during American Idol's twentieth season. She's been out there often
(06:36):
doing her work and receiving work condition She's a great
singer blues at epcore, but not limited that that way.
She's got a natural affinity for storytelling, and her vocals
are very strong, and she has a great band with her.
Her guitar player is a young man named Kevin Hutchings
(06:57):
who usually goes by his nickname ke and Keb is
mentored by keV Mo, a multiple award winning international songwriting
and performing phenomenon, and Kep Hutchings. I first had him
play at the Cranberry Festival about ten years ago when
he was still in middle school. And part of why
(07:18):
I loved about telling this story is that he was
in a band with a couple of other students his
age who had been mentored by their music teacher, who
was a jazz musician himself. They were performing pretty regularly
around the cape and when people would ask him, what's
the name of the band? They would say, good Question,
and that became the name of the band because he
(07:39):
really hadn't thought of a name. And so when people
ask me who's playing at this year's festival, that's where
I start good Question. Good Question is not playing, but KEB.
Hutchings is, and he's backing up Natalia Bunfini in a
great dance oriented band. And that's when we bring on
for the first time the Wompin' Out Nation singers and Dancers.
(08:04):
Singers and dancers. I'm very proud that we've arranged to
have them be part of the event this year, because
the traditions of Cape Cod, of course, go way back
before the colonial era, way back before the sea captains
who made the cranberry an essential part of their ships
(08:27):
larger if you will, And so the cranberries, which have
been part of the culture here on the Cape for
generations long before the colonial era, as discovered by the
Wamponot and people, the people of the First Light. We
have invited the Wamping Out Nation singers and dancers to
finally bring the cranberry full circle at our event. And
I'm delighted that we're going to do that, and the
(08:50):
wampin Out Nation singers and dancers are particularly proud of
the fact that they are participatory performance. They're going to
perform on the dance floor in the midst of the
audience and get the audience dancing with them. They're going
to teach them dances and the traditions behind those dances,
and that is basically what the singers and dancers do
(09:12):
and we're delighted to have that as be part of things.
And then we bring the multiple Boston Music Award winning
band and Train and Trains this is there. I'm going
to guess it's their sixth or seventh time at the
festival since I've been the music director, which is probably
(09:34):
about twelve years. They regularly come to the festival. They
bring a huge amount of energy and as the band
self description says, enough drums to fill a battleship. Boy,
that's a lot of ones or maybe some of the
sink a battleship. I'm not sure which it is that
they say the bat somehow. So that's the opening day.
(09:58):
Just a reminder to people who've been to the festival before.
Fireworks are not scheduled for this year. At dusk the
Horrors Chamber of Commerce does the fireworks that they've opted
to have the fireworks at their Christmas event in early
December instead of at the second day, the first day
(10:18):
of the Cranberry Festival.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Okay, all right, so you get there, you enjoy a
whole day of incredible music. In the afternoon, you go home,
you get some rest, and then the next day you
wake up and do it all over again. But you've
got two big powerhouse bands performing. Tell us about the
first band, which comes on, I believe at noon on Sunday.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
Correct, right, Well, you're going to kick off at noon
on Sunday with Danielle Moraglia and the Glory Junkies. And
Danielle is the New England Music Award winning Vocalist of
the Year. She's a great singer, great songwriter and has
a powerhouse band behind her. And basically on Sunday it's
all lose all the time because Danielle and her band
(10:57):
will be followed by one of the legendary blues bands
of this part of the country. That's the James Montgomery
Blues Band. James is a world class blues heart player,
harmonica player, and he brings with him veteran musicians, and
(11:17):
you know we tell people bring your dance and shoes
both days. Our sole sponsor for beer is Devil's First Brewery,
which is located just across the Harwich line. Dennis will
have wines available as well, and the dance and wine
part of the event and the beer and wine part
(11:40):
of the event are part of the same section, so
that you are allowed to bring your drinks into the
dance area.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Oh great, and you know you've got obviously plenty of
places to sit. If you want to bring a picnic
or a chair or a blanket, you can do that.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
Too, right, that's not an or, it's actually there are
some chairs and tables in the area adjacent to the
food truck area and the beer and wine area, but
there are no there is no furniture in the dance area.
So if you're going to come and spend the day,
(12:18):
bring a blanket, bring a chair, bring an umbrella in
case it's sunny. There's certainly not enough room under the
tent for the number of people who come to the event,
and people like to sit out, but it's a good
idea to protect yourself from the sun. And we will
have soft drinks, water and such available as well to
make sure people stay hydrated because you never know it
(12:39):
might still be summer weather.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
I think the most important thing when you go to
a festival is the food, and I really hope you're
going to have some good food.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Oh yes, We've got nine different food trucks coming and
it's funny though, and different varieties of food because people
have different tastes. But the most popular is the kettle corn.
Everyone gets in line for the kettle corn, so we
do have a gentleman coming with kettle corn. I have
another craft who is in the same area. She can
(13:10):
do the kettle corn also, but she does cotton candy.
We've got someone coming with homemade cookies. There's a bender
doing canolis, and different venders with in the crack Bear
will be selling their own kinds of special jams or
jellies or hot sauces. But for the food trucks, we've
got hot dogs, hamburgers, lobster roll, chicken salad. There's some
(13:37):
of them. People do recall. There's Dennis Public Market is
one of our bigger food trucks that come. They're well known.
The Veterans truck that gentlemen will sell The walking Taco
seems to be popular booth, and there's always got to
be ice creams. We have ice cream, doughnuts, there's a
(13:57):
wide variety.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
So what you're telling me that I should not eat
breakfast before I come to this festival because I'm going
to be super full by.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Noon, Exactly, you don't need to have breakfast or lunch
because it's all provided there.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
What is there to do for kids? Because obviously if
it's a family event, I'm sure there's all sorts of
different kids' activities going on.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Yes, we try to include the kids with some part
of this. It's mainly is a craf there where people
come and do their Christmas shopping or just shopping for
their own home or themselves. But for the kids. This
year I found there was a crafter that was interested
there called the ex Treasure Hunt. So they will be
(14:37):
set up on the field and they will give out
a or the family has to purchase map of the
area and it's kind of amazed. They go to different
locations on the map, solve a puzzle at each location.
When you're finished, bring the map back to the vendor
(14:58):
that you bought it from and they will be passing
out prizes. But I also just heard today from with
some of our nonprofits, we try to allow them to
come and set up booth and information so the people
in the community know what's going on in their own community,
because sometimes we just get busy and we don't. So
today I heard from the Harwich Recreation Department and they're
(15:19):
going to be setting up a booth giving out information
of what kind of activities beyond the craft Bear will
be available through the fall season for students and families
living in Harwich, as well as setting up some games
and activities that day for families to participate in.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
I don't know about you, but I looked the other
day and I forgot that it is like one hundred
days or something till Christmas, and I'm woefully unprepared, I know, And.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
At least the craft Bear there are. There are vendors
of all varieties and all price range. But what you'll find,
I find is that their unique gifts. It's not something
you can just run to a store and buy, and
a lot of them are one of a and when
they're made by the crafts themselves, it's interesting to have
conversations with them to learn about what kind of craft
(16:08):
they make, why they win in that direction, and the
process they have to create such lovely items.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Tell me a little bit about Alan Hall, this cranberry
farmer who's going to be making an appearance.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Well, the Cranberry Festival has existed, as I said before,
for at least forty seven years, and they used to
have a sale of cranberries and cranberry type breads or
candy because it was called the Cranberry Festival. So in
the last year or so we've gotten Alan Hall. He's
a local cranberry farmer. He will be coming again this year.
(16:39):
He will have a full display of equipment throughout history
that he's used on the farm on display in the
community center gym. And then he's also selling fresh cranberries
and I tried them last year and people are right,
there's nothing like fresh cranberry.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
Let's talk about specifics here. So this is going to
be on the fourteenth fifteenth. Tell us about ticketing, parking,
that sort of thing.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
All right, So yes, it's on Saturday and Sunday, the
fourteenth and fifteenth of September. Both days we are open
nine to four when you come into Harwich, especially during
that week in the traffic can get a little hectic,
so they will off the I guess it is the
Highway Route six. You come off of exit eighty two.
(17:25):
You'll go straight on one twenty four till you hit
to the center of town and they will direct you
to the left, and then you'll make a left onto
Oak Street. From what I remember from in years past,
we try to make the street one way. We'll have
a lot of police presence guide traffic. They'll be parking
(17:46):
on either side of the community center. Also across the
street is our high school, so there's plenty of parking
in that area too, and it kind of flows as
best it can. We have porta potties available as well
as there's bathrooms on site for those that would prefer
that the food truck area is easy accessible. We try
(18:07):
to make sure we have plenty of room too for
those that need handicap parking. Come and enjoy the especially
the weather. If the weather's good, let's keep our fingers crossed.
Come and enjoy the day now.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Of course, the most important part here you need to
pay for stuff. That's just the way it is. Festivals
do not just pop up on their own. It would
be nice, but they don't. What if somebody wants to
help you out with the donation, how can they help
make sure that this keeps going year after year.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
Well, there are several ways. Obviously, we don't want to
encourage you to buy any more beer and wine than
you actually need, and the beer and wine stales is
actually the primary way we pay for the music. But
of course bands have to be paid, and this is
not a past the hat event per se, although we
(18:52):
do pass the hat in between sets both days so
that people can make contributions on site. We are providing
an event with free live music, and your donations are
welcome and accepted. And we've also instituted another way to
make donations, which is on our website on the page
which has all the information about all the bands. If
(19:15):
you go to our website, there's a donation button there
and you can make a donation ahead of time or
after the fact. You can make a donation right now
while you're listening to this at our website, and you
don't have to worry about looking at the bottom of
your pants pocket for those last few quarters or running
out of cash on site. So if you make your
(19:38):
donation ahead of time, when somebody approaches you with a
hat or a bucket. On the day of the show,
you can say I gave in my office.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
Have a safe and healthy weekend. Please join me again
next week for another edition of the show. I'm Nicole
Davis from WBZ News Radio on iHeartRadio
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend.
Each week we come together and talk about all the
topics important to you and the place where you live.
It is so good to be back with you again
this week. I'm Nicole Davis. Summer is starting to wane.
We're back to school, getting back to work, and now
we have those crisp days and cool nights of early fall,
(00:27):
although you know around here it can actually be a
little bit finicky and we have those repeat summers sort
of into October. Anyway, that being said, it is coming
into cranberry harvest season and on the Cape, the aptly
named Cranberry Arts and Music Festival in Harwich is the
place to be Live bands from all over the region
are coming down to perform. Local artisans are going to
(00:48):
be coming to offer up all kinds of unique arts
and crafts. This is an ideal event not just for
crafters and music lovers, but families and anybody else who
wants to swing by. So let's talk about this. Kathy
Couch and Bob Weiser are here to do just that.
It is so good to have you both, Kathy. How
long has this been going on in Harwich?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
From what I understand, the Harvest Cranberry Festival has been
in existence almost fifty years. I think they're on year
forty seven, and it used to be much bigger than
what it is now. But it's something that you know,
the families remember and they've tried to maintain it as
best they can. It's a yearly event.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
So when people come to the festival. Now, obviously there's
music and we're going to talk about that in a minute,
but the arts. You have a lot of crafters who
come to this event.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Yes, technically we do three kraft bears. We have one
in the second weekend of July, the second one is
the second weekend in August, and the third one is
our biggest one, the one that is the second weekend
of September. We'll get at least one hundred and fifty crafters.
It seems to be something that is well known and
people travel specifically for that weekend to come here. And
(02:01):
everything is held outside, which gives it a very different atmosphere.
It's all held behind the Harwich Community Center. They have
a giant field area where we can set up the crafters,
food trucks, music and parking.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
So bob Let's switch gears and head over to talk
with you for a minute, because you are the man
with the plan when it comes to all these acts
that are coming for the music side of the festival.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
As the music director, I'm responsible for what we call
the cran Jam, which is the dance party that is
now part of the Cranberry Festival. I am responsible for
the beer and wine concession and the music stage. We
have a tent, we have a dance floor, we have
(02:48):
a stage. We have a bunch of great bands.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
You have five performing on Saturday and two performing on Sunday.
So let's start with Saturday the fourteenth, starting off with
the druma Queen.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
So are they well, The druma Queens are all women group.
As you might guess from the Queen May minute, they
are in all women's percussion ensemble. Like to describe themselves
as creating joyful noise and positive healing vibrations wherever and
whenever they perform. I have to say that I have
(03:24):
seen them perform on numerous occasions, but we've never had
them at the festival before. And they're going to kick
things off around noontime on Saturday. It's a very engaged
performance that they do, their rhythms and their energy, the
variety of material that they include. I think what happens
(03:45):
is they never leave anybody without a smile on their
face by the time they're.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Done, for sure. So then you get your beer, you
get your snacks, and you're under the dance tent and
then on comes Woof Woof mew a band that I'm
loving this name. Tell me about.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Wolff Well Wolfwoffmia is an Outer Cape band. If you
know about life on the Cape, you know that the
Forearm part of the Cape and the Upper Arm part
of the Cape, even though there are different towns on
each part. The Foundmouth to Orleans part of the Cape
is a little bit more straight if you will, you know.
(04:21):
They're the communities that include commuters off the Cape in
the Boston area and lots of year round folks who
many of whom are retired and here year round, and
many of whom are the craft people who take care
of all of the building and construction and maintenance that
is necessary for an area that includes an awful lot
(04:43):
of people who aren't here all year. The Outer Cape,
on the other hand, has a different vibe to it.
The percentage of people involved in the arts increases the
further out you go on the Cape. But if you've
never been here, the outer Cape is the Provincetown artist community,
in the Truro community, in the Wealth Yet community. These
(05:07):
are places with a different aesthetics. A Wolf of Me
out comes out of the Outer Cape scene. They are
very grassroots in their approach. Their music includes an element
of ska, an element of punk. There's some reggae, some
New Waves, some originals, some covers. They like to describe
themselves as inspiring folks to celebrate the Earth by dancing.
(05:32):
So you see how we're following the Drummer Queens with
this band that includes bass and guitar and singing and
percussion and drum kit and a different range of instrumentation.
And they mentioned to me covers of people like Bob
(05:55):
Marley and Fella Cuti and Prince and Victor h and
the B fifty two's, though I'm not certain the name
actually comes from the fact that the original three members,
two of them had dogs, and one of them had
a cat.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Natalia Bonfini, I think I've got her name right. Natalia
Bonfini tell me about her and her band.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
There's a bunch of things I want to tell you
about Natalia Bonfini and her band. Natalia has won the
New England Songwriters Competition, received Honorable Mentioned in song Doors
International Competition, and she was among the top fifty finalists
during American Idol's twentieth season. She's been out there often
(06:36):
doing her work and receiving work condition She's a great
singer blues at epcore, but not limited that that way.
She's got a natural affinity for storytelling, and her vocals
are very strong, and she has a great band with her.
Her guitar player is a young man named Kevin Hutchings
(06:57):
who usually goes by his nickname ke and Keb is
mentored by keV Mo, a multiple award winning international songwriting
and performing phenomenon, and Kep Hutchings. I first had him
play at the Cranberry Festival about ten years ago when
he was still in middle school. And part of why
(07:18):
I loved about telling this story is that he was
in a band with a couple of other students his
age who had been mentored by their music teacher, who
was a jazz musician himself. They were performing pretty regularly
around the cape and when people would ask him, what's
the name of the band? They would say, good Question,
and that became the name of the band because he
(07:39):
really hadn't thought of a name. And so when people
ask me who's playing at this year's festival, that's where
I start good Question. Good Question is not playing, but KEB.
Hutchings is, and he's backing up Natalia Bunfini in a
great dance oriented band. And that's when we bring on
for the first time the Wompin' Out Nation singers and Dancers.
(08:04):
Singers and dancers. I'm very proud that we've arranged to
have them be part of the event this year, because
the traditions of Cape Cod, of course, go way back
before the colonial era, way back before the sea captains
who made the cranberry an essential part of their ships
(08:27):
larger if you will, And so the cranberries, which have
been part of the culture here on the Cape for
generations long before the colonial era, as discovered by the
Wamponot and people, the people of the First Light. We
have invited the Wamping Out Nation singers and dancers to
finally bring the cranberry full circle at our event. And
I'm delighted that we're going to do that, and the
(08:50):
wampin Out Nation singers and dancers are particularly proud of
the fact that they are participatory performance. They're going to
perform on the dance floor in the midst of the
audience and get the audience dancing with them. They're going
to teach them dances and the traditions behind those dances,
and that is basically what the singers and dancers do
(09:12):
and we're delighted to have that as be part of things.
And then we bring the multiple Boston Music Award winning
band and Train and Trains this is there. I'm going
to guess it's their sixth or seventh time at the
festival since I've been the music director, which is probably
(09:34):
about twelve years. They regularly come to the festival. They
bring a huge amount of energy and as the band
self description says, enough drums to fill a battleship. Boy,
that's a lot of ones or maybe some of the
sink a battleship. I'm not sure which it is that
they say the bat somehow. So that's the opening day.
(09:58):
Just a reminder to people who've been to the festival before.
Fireworks are not scheduled for this year. At dusk the
Horrors Chamber of Commerce does the fireworks that they've opted
to have the fireworks at their Christmas event in early
December instead of at the second day, the first day
(10:18):
of the Cranberry Festival.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Okay, all right, so you get there, you enjoy a
whole day of incredible music. In the afternoon, you go home,
you get some rest, and then the next day you
wake up and do it all over again. But you've
got two big powerhouse bands performing. Tell us about the
first band, which comes on, I believe at noon on Sunday.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
Correct, right, Well, you're going to kick off at noon
on Sunday with Danielle Moraglia and the Glory Junkies. And
Danielle is the New England Music Award winning Vocalist of
the Year. She's a great singer, great songwriter and has
a powerhouse band behind her. And basically on Sunday it's
all lose all the time because Danielle and her band
(10:57):
will be followed by one of the legendary blues bands
of this part of the country. That's the James Montgomery
Blues Band. James is a world class blues heart player,
harmonica player, and he brings with him veteran musicians, and
(11:17):
you know we tell people bring your dance and shoes
both days. Our sole sponsor for beer is Devil's First Brewery,
which is located just across the Harwich line. Dennis will
have wines available as well, and the dance and wine
part of the event and the beer and wine part
(11:40):
of the event are part of the same section, so
that you are allowed to bring your drinks into the
dance area.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Oh great, and you know you've got obviously plenty of
places to sit. If you want to bring a picnic
or a chair or a blanket, you can do that.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
Too, right, that's not an or, it's actually there are
some chairs and tables in the area adjacent to the
food truck area and the beer and wine area, but
there are no there is no furniture in the dance area.
So if you're going to come and spend the day,
(12:18):
bring a blanket, bring a chair, bring an umbrella in
case it's sunny. There's certainly not enough room under the
tent for the number of people who come to the event,
and people like to sit out, but it's a good
idea to protect yourself from the sun. And we will
have soft drinks, water and such available as well to
make sure people stay hydrated because you never know it
(12:39):
might still be summer weather.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
I think the most important thing when you go to
a festival is the food, and I really hope you're
going to have some good food.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Oh yes, We've got nine different food trucks coming and
it's funny though, and different varieties of food because people
have different tastes. But the most popular is the kettle corn.
Everyone gets in line for the kettle corn, so we
do have a gentleman coming with kettle corn. I have
another craft who is in the same area. She can
(13:10):
do the kettle corn also, but she does cotton candy.
We've got someone coming with homemade cookies. There's a bender
doing canolis, and different venders with in the crack Bear
will be selling their own kinds of special jams or
jellies or hot sauces. But for the food trucks, we've
got hot dogs, hamburgers, lobster roll, chicken salad. There's some
(13:37):
of them. People do recall. There's Dennis Public Market is
one of our bigger food trucks that come. They're well known.
The Veterans truck that gentlemen will sell The walking Taco
seems to be popular booth, and there's always got to
be ice creams. We have ice cream, doughnuts, there's a
(13:57):
wide variety.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
So what you're telling me that I should not eat
breakfast before I come to this festival because I'm going
to be super full by.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Noon, Exactly, you don't need to have breakfast or lunch
because it's all provided there.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
What is there to do for kids? Because obviously if
it's a family event, I'm sure there's all sorts of
different kids' activities going on.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Yes, we try to include the kids with some part
of this. It's mainly is a craf there where people
come and do their Christmas shopping or just shopping for
their own home or themselves. But for the kids. This
year I found there was a crafter that was interested
there called the ex Treasure Hunt. So they will be
(14:37):
set up on the field and they will give out
a or the family has to purchase map of the
area and it's kind of amazed. They go to different
locations on the map, solve a puzzle at each location.
When you're finished, bring the map back to the vendor
(14:58):
that you bought it from and they will be passing
out prizes. But I also just heard today from with
some of our nonprofits, we try to allow them to
come and set up booth and information so the people
in the community know what's going on in their own community,
because sometimes we just get busy and we don't. So
today I heard from the Harwich Recreation Department and they're
(15:19):
going to be setting up a booth giving out information
of what kind of activities beyond the craft Bear will
be available through the fall season for students and families
living in Harwich, as well as setting up some games
and activities that day for families to participate in.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
I don't know about you, but I looked the other
day and I forgot that it is like one hundred
days or something till Christmas, and I'm woefully unprepared, I know, And.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
At least the craft Bear there are. There are vendors
of all varieties and all price range. But what you'll find,
I find is that their unique gifts. It's not something
you can just run to a store and buy, and
a lot of them are one of a and when
they're made by the crafts themselves, it's interesting to have
conversations with them to learn about what kind of craft
(16:08):
they make, why they win in that direction, and the
process they have to create such lovely items.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Tell me a little bit about Alan Hall, this cranberry
farmer who's going to be making an appearance.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Well, the Cranberry Festival has existed, as I said before,
for at least forty seven years, and they used to
have a sale of cranberries and cranberry type breads or
candy because it was called the Cranberry Festival. So in
the last year or so we've gotten Alan Hall. He's
a local cranberry farmer. He will be coming again this year.
(16:39):
He will have a full display of equipment throughout history
that he's used on the farm on display in the
community center gym. And then he's also selling fresh cranberries
and I tried them last year and people are right,
there's nothing like fresh cranberry.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
Let's talk about specifics here. So this is going to
be on the fourteenth fifteenth. Tell us about ticketing, parking,
that sort of thing.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
All right, So yes, it's on Saturday and Sunday, the
fourteenth and fifteenth of September. Both days we are open
nine to four when you come into Harwich, especially during
that week in the traffic can get a little hectic,
so they will off the I guess it is the
Highway Route six. You come off of exit eighty two.
(17:25):
You'll go straight on one twenty four till you hit
to the center of town and they will direct you
to the left, and then you'll make a left onto
Oak Street. From what I remember from in years past,
we try to make the street one way. We'll have
a lot of police presence guide traffic. They'll be parking
(17:46):
on either side of the community center. Also across the
street is our high school, so there's plenty of parking
in that area too, and it kind of flows as
best it can. We have porta potties available as well
as there's bathrooms on site for those that would prefer
that the food truck area is easy accessible. We try
(18:07):
to make sure we have plenty of room too for
those that need handicap parking. Come and enjoy the especially
the weather. If the weather's good, let's keep our fingers crossed.
Come and enjoy the day now.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Of course, the most important part here you need to
pay for stuff. That's just the way it is. Festivals
do not just pop up on their own. It would
be nice, but they don't. What if somebody wants to
help you out with the donation, how can they help
make sure that this keeps going year after year.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
Well, there are several ways. Obviously, we don't want to
encourage you to buy any more beer and wine than
you actually need, and the beer and wine stales is
actually the primary way we pay for the music. But
of course bands have to be paid, and this is
not a past the hat event per se, although we
(18:52):
do pass the hat in between sets both days so
that people can make contributions on site. We are providing
an event with free live music, and your donations are
welcome and accepted. And we've also instituted another way to
make donations, which is on our website on the page
which has all the information about all the bands. If
(19:15):
you go to our website, there's a donation button there
and you can make a donation ahead of time or
after the fact. You can make a donation right now
while you're listening to this at our website, and you
don't have to worry about looking at the bottom of
your pants pocket for those last few quarters or running
out of cash on site. So if you make your
(19:38):
donation ahead of time, when somebody approaches you with a
hat or a bucket. On the day of the show,
you can say I gave in my office.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
Have a safe and healthy weekend. Please join me again
next week for another edition of the show. I'm Nicole
Davis from WBZ News Radio on iHeartRadio
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