Concord holds its first Sound and Color Festival
By Zachary Lewis
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Sal Perzio, Executive Director of Capitol Center for the Arts, is excited for the first Concord Sound and Color Festival, set to take place Saturday, Oct. 19, and Sunday, Oct. 20.
“We came up with this idea a little over a year ago,” Perzio said. “We got some seed funding from the City of Concord to make it a reality. And really the overview of the entire thing is that we want to continue to establish Concord as a destination for arts.”
“We have some headliners for the music side of it, but we also have some fantastic sculpture artists, performing arts, interactive activities, food trucks — but it’s all, with the exception of the food trucks, it’s all free,” he said.
There will be music in the Chubb Theatre and at Bank of New Hampshire Stage.
“And then we have the outdoor stage,” Perzio said. “And then in addition to that, we have music going on at Feathered Friends stage. It’s five stages, because we have … activities and music going on at the Concord Community Music School too.”
A free trolley will take visitors between venues.
“There’s going to be arts activities for families and stuff like that at the Community School as well as in the Arts Hub,” Perzio said. “We have some sculpture artists, and then we have one of those digital mapping artists that’s going to be doing projection arts on the Smile building as well.”
Artists and musicians in training can have a great experience. “All day Saturday at the Concord Community Music School they’re going to have instrument petting zoos … so that kids can get more exposed to holding an instrument … and a ton of activities going on there too. So between the music school and the arts hub there’s going to be a lot for kids as well,” Perzio said.
Festival participants are many and varied.
“We have art therapy people who are going to be there. Queerlective is going to be there. The Concord Arts Market is going to be there too. We wanted a taste of every medium as much as possible as part of the arts festival. So the goal is, if you’re coming at night to see one of those great bands and things like that, come during the day, experience all these great arts activities, projects. Sample some stuff that you might not have thought about experiencing before, and then in the evening time go to one of the great live music performances that we have in any one of the number of venues,” Perzio said.
Visitors can partake of the Festival’s outdoor beer garden, and there will be “a couple of food vendors,” Perzio said, noting that visitors “can grab food from our tried and true restaurants and things like that downtown too.”
The festival is as much a celebration of the community as it is of the arts. “The goal is, again, to continue to kind of have people understand that Concord is on its way up in that regard,” Perzio said. “So it’s a destination for people. Obviously last week we had the book festival, and we’re trying the coffee festivals here now too, so we kind of want to keep hammering home [that] this is a destination for people to come and relax and enjoy themselves.”
Perzio himself will be in the crowd. “I’m really excited about seeing Saturday night, Couch and Rubblebucket play. Those two are like personal favorites of mine,” he said.
Ultimately, “I just want to see downtown packed with people having a good time, that’s really the goal,” he said.
Sound and Color Festival Activity Tent Schedule
Downtown Concord (Outdoor Arts Market on South Main Street)
Friday, Oct. 18
All day glass mosaic building with Lizz Van Saun
Noon to 3 p.m. videography with Concord Community TV
3 to 4:30 p.m. instruments with the Concord Community Music School
4:30 to 6 p.m. costumes with the Children’s Theatre
5 to 7 p.m. botanical paintings with Kimball Jenkins
Saturday, Oct. 19
All day glass mosaic building with Lizz Van Saun
11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. costumes with the Children’s Theatre
12:30 to 1:30 p.m. children’s storytime with author Matt Forrest Esenwine
1:30 to 2:30 p.m. collaborative drawing with Kimball Jenkins
2:30 to 3:30 p.m. fall mosaics with Kimball Jenkins
Sound and Color Festival Performance Schedule
Performances at the CCA Main Stage and BNH Discovery Stage will require free tickets.
Friday, Oct. 18
CCA Main Stage (44 S. Main St.)
Tyler Hilton, 6 p.m.
Adam Ezra Group, 7 p.m.
Yonder Mountain String Band, 8:30 p.m.
BNH Discovery Stage (16 S. Main St.)
Billy Wylder, 6 p.m.
GoldenOak, 7 p.m.
Oliver Hazard, 8:30 p.m.
Feathered Friend (231 S. Main St.)
Willy Chase, 6 p.m.
April Cushman, 8:30 p.m.
Outdoor Stage (South Main Street From Hills Ave. to Concord Street)
A Squared, 1 p.m.
Way of the Headband, 2 p.m.
Lee and Dr. G, 3 p.m.
Kimayo, 4:30 p.m.
Vulture Sister Song, 6 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 19
CCA Main Stage
Air Traffic Controller, 7 p.m.
Colony House, 8:30 p.m.
BNH Discovery Stage
Couch, 7:30 p.m.
Rubblebucket, 9 p.m.
Feathered Friend
Rebecca Turmel, 5 p.m.
Taylor Hughes, 7 p.m.
Billy Gillman, 8:30 p.m.
Concord Community Music Stage
drum circle, 11 a.m.
Puppetry demo & crafts, noon
folk jam, 1 p.m.
ukulele class, 2 p.m.
music & movement class, 3 p.m
Northern Lights mini concert & singalong, 4 p.m.
Eliot Fisk, 7:30 p.m.
Outdoor Stage
Mr. Aaron Halloween party, 11 a.m.
Queen City Improv, 12:30 p.m.
Andrea Paquin, 1:30 p.m.
Kotoko Brass, 3 p.m.
Lil Rennie, 4:30 p.m.
Jon Hope, 6 p.m.
Parking
Parking garages (free, all-day parking on weekends):
Capitol Commons Parking Garage, 75 Storrs St.
School Street Public Parking Garage, 17 School St.
State Street Public Parking Garage, 19 N. State St.
On-street parking in downtown Concord is metered, and parking on Main Street is limited to three hours.
Featured image: Couch will perform on the BNH Stage on Saturday.