Music Will Keep Things Moving At Trumbull Arts Festival

TRUMBULL — The 22nd Trumbull Arts Festival will take place Sunday, September 17, from 10 am to 4 pm, on the Town Hall Green. The annual event features juried fine artists and craftsmen, a children’s creative center, and performing artists throughout the day.

Music begins this year at 11 am with The ConnChords, followed by The Roylety Steel Pan Band at 12:30, folk singer Mike Kachuba at 1:45, and the folk/pop duo of Mae Robertson and Eric Garrison at 3 pm. Rolande Duprey and her Wonderful Walkabouts, hand-made life size marionettes, will be strolling the green between 1 and 3 pm.

Although The ConnChords have roots in barbershop harmony and are rated Fairfield County’s top barbershop quartet by SPEBSQUA, the international singing society, the group considers its performances to be those of an a cappella quartet. The ConnChords perform selections ranging from barbershop standards to swing tunes such as “Orange Colored Sky” and “Beginning To See the Light” and even light rock/pop standards such as “Under the Boardwalk.”

Jim Royle founded The Roylety Steel Pan Band in 1999 after intensive study with Trinidadian master Ken “The Professor” Filmore. The group gives clinics and concerts in area schools, teaching the origin and history of the steel drum, as well as performing in local music establishments.

In addition to Mr Royle, members of the group also include Nate Dobas, who teaches music in the Milford public school system; Jeremy Tammone, a former member of the United States Marine Crops Band; Dan Ferreira, who is currently finishing his degree at Loyola University; and Timothy Brandt, who is finishing his degree at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury.

Mike Kachuba, who specializes in traditional folk music, performs using hammered dulcimer, guitar, concertina and harmonica, and will often add other instruments. Mr Kachuba was the 1996 Connecticut State Troubadour and is currently on the CT Commission on the Arts’ master teaching artist roster. He has also recently been added to CCA’s roster of Young Audiences of Connecticut.

A well-known figure on the Connecticut music scene, Mr Kachuba has performed as part of Ash Creek String Band; with Rob Brereton in the duo Over Easy; and as a solo performer for over twenty years. He also ran the very successful Rabbit Hill concert series in Westport for 16 years.

Mae Robertson and Eric Garrison first played music together while teaching classes at North Carolina’s annual Swannanoa Gathering, discovering a blend of voices that was magical. After returning to their homes in the Northeast, the two decided to continue the association by performing together. Onstage, the combination clicked and they began to delight audiences wherever they played.

Their first album as a duo, Sweet Dreams of Home, is a collection of songs exploring the meaning of “home.” The recording was released in the fall of 1999, and soon thereafter won the Oppenheim Platinum Award and the Parent’s Choice Silver Award.

Admission to all events at the arts festival is free. Trumbull Town Hall is at 5866 Main Street.

On case of inclement weather, the festival moves indoors to Trumbull High School, on Strobel Road of Daniels Farm Road. The move will be announced on WICC (radio 600 AM). Call arts coordinator Pat McAuley at 452-5065 for further information.