By Robert Tomlinson
News Director
THREE RIVERS — The sounds from several different bands of all different types echoed off the walls of downtown Three Rivers this past weekend during the 31st HarmonyFest music festival.
Sunday’s free festival brought an estimated total of 2,000 visitors to downtown Three Rivers, filling a blocked-off Main Street steadily throughout the day in what turned out to be pleasant weather conditions and no inclement weather.
“I was pleased. We had good weather, good turnout, and people seemed to enjoy themselves,” organizer Charlie Wolgamood said. “The entertainment was fun and energetic.”
Several different groups took to the stage set up at the north end of the downtown block. Leading off the afternoon was rock cover band Spork Fight, followed by Kalamazoo-based rock band Faux Beamage and two-piece Rockabilly band Jesse Ray and the Carolina Catfish. All three groups played HarmonyFest for the first time Sunday.
Following them were the Kalamazoo Pipe Band, blues band The Kennedy Affair, and alternative Latin rock band Cabildo, all making return appearances to HarmonyFest. The night ended off with the headliner, Grand Rapids-based five-piece rock band the Desmond Jones Band.
Wolgamood said those in attendance enjoyed all of the acts throughout the day, with what he said were nothing but positive feedback about the bands’ performances.
“I was happy with all of them; it was nice to get people up and moving and entertaining them,” Wolgamood said. “It was a nice, diverse music selection.”
Those who performed on stage at HarmonyFest said they had a good time performing, including those who performed at the festival for the first time. Beth Romeo, the lead singer of Spork Fight, said the band had “so much fun” performing at the festival.
“The crowd is always really exciting and they have good energy. The weather was perfect, and overall, it was a really good time,” Romeo said. “We got to kick off the festival, and that was an honor in itself.”
Jared Stokes, the lead guitarist of Faux Beamage and a Three Rivers native, said it was “the best thing ever” to be able to perform with his bandmates in his hometown.
“It’s special mostly to just have a cool music outlet in our town, bringing some art to the town,” Stokes said. “It’s the biggest music event in the town, and there’s something cool about playing for your people. These are my people.”
Jesse Ray of Jesse Ray and the Carolina Catfish said he had fun playing off the energy of the crowd during his set.
“It was a blast and a good time. I can’t say I’ve ever done anything but pass through Three Rivers, so it was really nice to stick around and see such a great group of people throw such a great event,” Ray said. “I can only perform what I get, and it was a great crowd, so that’s all I can ask for. There’s always something special about some great people coming together in a nice town and people working for something beautiful.”
Wolgamood said some of the artists were even able to stick around for a while after their sets, with Faux Beamage playing an afterparty of sorts in East Alley following the conclusion of the festival.
Along with the music, there were several food trucks and booths available, both vendors and information booths about and for the local community.
A kids’ zone was also available, featuring activities, games, a caricature artist, a balloon artist, and a magician. One of the biggest changes to the festival, it was located this year on Portage Avenue instead of on the south end of Main Street like in previous years. Wolgamood said turnout was “quite good” at the zone this year, and that the change in location was, in his view, a good one for the festival.
“I was worried it was going to be too loud there, but the way the stage was set up, it was still okay there. You could hear the music, but then you could talk and stuff too,” Wolgamood said. “It was able to function pretty good, and I thought it went well there.”
Wolgamood said while he thinks things went well, this year’s event could be used as a learning experience in a couple respects for future events, noting they’d probably do the kids’ zone on Portage Avenue again, and praised outgoing Downtown Development Authority Executive Director Cameron Mains for his setup of the vendors.
“[Mains] did that last year too, but same thing this year with food vendors down there [on the south side of Main Street]. People like that, and they can make their choices,” Wolgamood said.
Overall, he said this year’s festival was a success.
“We were quite pleased, and were happy to get it done,” Wolgamood said. “Pretty much everything was positive, and we had a lot of great benefactors that donated money, and if they didn’t donate, it wouldn’t have been possible to do this as well as we did.”
Robert Tomlinson can be reached at 279-7488 or robert@wilcoxnewspapers.com.
