Connecticut Folk Festival and Green Expo

“One Planet, Many Choices”: Edgerton Park is the place to be September 9-11 for music and green ideas

CT Folk is pleased to present the 2011 Connecticut Folk Festival and Green Expo. The weekend event kicks off on Friday September 9th, with the Grassy Hill Song Circle, a unique evening of collaborative entertainment. Four of the hottest musicians on the Indie/Americana scene will play solo work and then accompany each other in a jam-session atmosphere: Mai Bloomfield, Anthony daCosta, Brian Dolzani and Rachael Sage. The Neighborhood Music School’s DoSo Band opens the night and the Master of Ceremonies again this year is the hilarious Vance Gilbert! The Grassy Hill Song Circle will also be held in the magical atmosphere of Edgerton Park, beginning at 7:00 p.m.

Saturday afternoon, Edgerton Park will be the site of CT Folk’s sixth annual Green Expo, a free afternoon event (11 a.m. – 4 p.m.) featuring 75 exhibitors, demonstrations and activities to promote living a sustainable life, as well as a free family concert with Nerissa and Katryna Nields.

For the young ones, visit the Musical Petting Zoo compliments of the Neighborhood music school or “New Haven’s Kidical Mass Touch a Cargo Bike” or be enchanted by the Earth Fairy or the Eco Wizard.  This is a day where your local community comes together to show you what they have to offer and you won’t be disappointed!  Hours 11AM till 4PM at Edgerton Park

The afternoon will begin with the top five artists from our CT Folk’s 2011 songwriting contest in a competitive showcase. A judging panel made up of accomplished musicians and community leaders will select one outstanding performer to join the Main Stage line-up later that evening. New Haven’s Professors of Bluegrass join the festivities again this year for the afternoon concert, followed by Connecticut’s own Mon Monarch (featuring the current CT State Troubadour, Chuck E. Costa).

Innovative acoustic guitar virtuoso, Leo Kottke, will headline the Connecticut Folk Festival and Green Expo’s main stage concert on Saturday, September 10th, 2011, in New Haven’s Edgerton Park. Kottke has been awarded two Grammy nominations, a Doctorate in Music Performance by the Peck School of Music at the U of Wisconsin Milwaukee, and he continues touring globally.

The 5 p.m. concert under the stars will also feature acclaimed singer-songwriter, Vance Gilbert; national touring musicians, Nerissa and Katryna Nields; and Connecticut-based Too Blue starts the evening with their unique blend of bluegrass and swing.

The Festival will conclude at noon on Sunday, September 11th with the Dava Hoot, an informal community sing-along hosted by the CT Folk Board Band in Edgerton Park.

Now in its second decade, the Connecticut Folk Festival & Green Expo is a nonprofit, primarily volunteer organization based in New Haven. The Festival & Green Expo’s parent organization, CT Folk, is dedicated to traditional and contemporary roots music and to caring for the earth.