Make Music Day is held every year on the same date – June 21 – the first day of summer – rain or shine! According to the MakeMusicDay.org website:
It all started 41 years ago in France.
In 1982, Jack Lang and his staff at the Ministry of Culture dreamed up an idea for a new kind of musical holiday. They imagined a day where free music would be everywhere, all around each city: street corners, parks, rooftops, gardens, and store fronts.
And, unlike a typical music festival, anyone and everyone would be invited to join and play music, or host performances. The event would take place on the summer solstice, June 21, and would be called Fête De La Musique. (In French, the name means both “festival of music” and “make music”.)
The Fairfield, Connecticut Make Music Day event, one of the 1000+ cities that participates globally, was lead by Lou Heumann and supported by many volunteers and the generous support of organizations like Fairfield’s premier live music venue Fairfield Theatre Company, as well as Make Music Day Alliance, Fairfield’s Office of Community & Economic Development, Connecticut Office of the Arts, Pan Yard Jumbie Jam Drums,
Fiddlehead Brewing Company, East Rock Brewing, Downeast Craft Cider, Hohner Harmonicas, and Vic Firth. Without the very generous support of these corporate and institutional donors, Make Music Day – Fairfield would not be possible.
I’ve photographed this event for several years in a row, excluding last year when I had a knee injury and later surgery for it in September. Eight months after the surgery as I continued to heal, strengthen, and recover I still wasn’t sure if I could make it. Thankfully, about a month before the event, everything started to come together, and I was walking normal enough to again volunteer for this year’s Fairfield Connecticut Make Music Day (MMD).
The MMD activities in Fairfield are some of the largest in the country. This year’s schedule had 62 artists at 23 different venues so the day was pretty busy, and to optimize the photo opportunities it required lots of logistical planning beforehand.
For me, the challenge was that the venues are distributed throughout the busy town. As in past years, Downtown Fairfield was the hub of activities. This is great because one can see many of the day’s performers with just a short walk between venues.
However, my objective was to photograph as many musicians/groups and venues as possible, fully realizing that it is impossible to get to them all while doing justice to each with quality photos.
Through a combination of driving and walking (walked over 6 miles), this year I photographed 30 musicians/groups/troupes and 20 venues between 10:15 AM and 9pm. In total, 1800+ photos were taken for the day. Below, I highlight some of the artists, with more photos in the gallery at the end of the article. The photos in the gallery will let you see each photo in a much higher resolution than can be displayed in the article. Let’s start!
The day started at 10:15am at the downtown Sherman Green Gazebo with Tom Weber’s children’s music. I wasn’t familiar with Tom and had no idea what to expect. However, with a large crowd of children and parents forming I knew something big was about to happen. Both I and the audience quickly became mesmerized with Tom’s fun songs and his ability to get the children engaged and participating. We were soon treated to a guest appearance by Super Mario that brought the children’s level of entertainment up another notch.
Next up at 11am was Jim LoPresti and the children’s drum circle. Several companies very generously donated instruments for this special, interactive event, including Hohner, Vic Firth, and Pan Yard Jumbie Jam Drums. As a result of these donations and Jim’s expert drum guidance, this event was a huge hit with the budding musicians.
Jim continued into the 12 o’clock hour with his handpan. I wished I were able to stay, but it was time for me to visit other venues and artists. In my head I sounded like Tattoo from Fantasy Island when I kept repeating, “The plan, The plan!” If I didn’t follow my pre-planned route and timings then I may be “lost” the rest of the day.
Next I drove to the The Stand Vegan Café to see Charlotte Roth. I have wanted to hear Charlotte for a while, having missed her in previous years. I arrived just in time to hear her first song of the day, and it was lovely. The patrons to the café enjoyed it too as they streamed in and out of the store. The café was conveniently located on my route, so I was able to stop here a couple of times during the day.
One of the wonderful things about Make Music Day is that it demonstrates that music can be performed anywhere. There was lots of evidence of that during the day, including my next stop at Greenfield Hill Commons. In the middle of a small commons shopping mall is a nice, treed oasis with picnic tables, and for today while I was there, it also had the musicians Hazel Foley & Colman Connolly.
So far, my pre-planning was paying off – I had been able to hit every spot on time, get some nice photos of the artists at the venues, and move to the next. However, it was now early afternoon, and this was where the logistics could take a hit as traffic began to build. Thank goodness for the Waze app on my iPhone. Coming back across town, I relied on Waze to get me to the Bigelow Center for Senior Activities with a couple of minutes to spare. When I arrived, there were over 75 seniors doing the same as me – looking forward to hearing Molly Murphy perform. Although Molly lives in Nashville, we were fortunate that she spends some time in Fairfield during Make Music Day. Molly’s mastery of her Martin acoustic guitar was only exceeded by her beautiful vocals and lyrics. I really wanted to stay longer, but I had to move on.
I made it back to the Gazebo in time to photograph several of the Fairfield Center Stage performers. I hadn’t realized this was a troupe of different performers during the hour so I think I missed the first one or two acts. This was a fun group who seemed incredibly happy showing off their diverse singing talents.
I then left for the furthest location of the day for me, the Fairfield School of Music in the center of town. I had to time this perfectly or else I would miss the next venue on my tour. All events for Make Music Fairfield are outdoors, so when I arrived at the School of Music parking lot and didn’t see anyone, I thought I drove all that away and made a mistake in my planning. Instead of leaving, though, on a hunch I decided to walk inside. Still nothing. I see stairs to the second floor and knock on the door and walk in hoping they were there. Success! The owner graciously invites me in, and boy it was worth the effort. The energetic Ryan SanAngelo was singing children’s songs to a packed room of children who were eating it up!
In the middle of a pretty neighborhood is where you can find Springers Glen Park, complete with it’s own running stream. In the middle of the park, next to the largest tree in the park, one could hear traditional Irish music being played by Shamrogues2 (that’s not a typo!). Photographically, it was a treat to capture this group in the park using a variety of lenses, including a fisheye, while their traditional Irish music filled the air.
Back in downtown, the owner of Olive My Stuff has been an enthusiastic, long time supporter of Make Music Day. Her delightful store is also the winner of the “Best of Gold Coast – Consignment” award. Although I photograph musicians at this storefront every year, I always felt it would be nice to have Ali, the owner, in one of the photos. When I asked, Ali didn’t hesitate and gave the perfect pose and wonderful smile. I also loved the name on the musician’s hat, which is his band name, Total Loss.
If there were an award for most times played during the day, the Shamrogues2 band would have won with four appearances. I already highlighted one of these above. If there were also an award for the most unusual location played, I’m sure Shamrouge2 would have won that too. Several of the band members played on a boat named PEARL in the middle of the harbor. It was a beautiful sight and sound on a picture perfect day. The rest of the band played on firmer ground at the same time.
Back in downtown, I made a point of catching Bad Saints as they are a favorite of mine from the last time I saw them play. And as usual, they did not disappoint. Not only are they talented musicians and singers, but they also put on a good show for the camera – I always appreciate that.
I made it back to the Gazebo in time to hear Harmony On The Sound. They are a chapter of Sweet Adelines International who sing 4-part, a cappella harmony in the Barbershop style. They won the 2022 Region 1 Chorus Championship, and I could hear why. They were very fun to see.
I then walked over to the Fairfield Theatre Company parking lot just in time to catch the end of Sean O’Reilly’s set. I’ve seen a lot of amazing musicians over the years, so it takes a lot to surprise me. Sean did it in spades. I’ve never seen anything like what Sean was doing – playing keys with one hand while simultaneously playing a giant harp with his other hand, all while singing. And it all sounded amazing.
But wait, there’s more. When Sean was done with his solo hour set, he then introduced the members of a band he’s in and played keys for another hour, sans harp. This other band is The Moonrise Cartel, a band I’ve been wanting to see because I’ve known the female singer, Stephanie, for over a decade – she’s a remarkable singer. Add to that Al’s vocals, guitar and timeless lyrics and you have a truly unique and wonderful sounding indie band.
The next stop was the “Front Porch” – a gorgeous home on Southport Harbor where bands play from late afternoon through early evening. When I arrived, the audience was enjoying Hannah Jane’s beautiful performance.
Not far from the Front Porch is the Pequot Library, which hosted several bands after normal opening hours. I caught the very end of Brian Dolzani’s set (photos in the gallery), which was followed by the powerhouse Cosmic Error, who’s front man was full of energy.
Then I made a beeline to the other side of town to Jennings Beach. Here I caught the lively performance by Lackluster Brother. I don’t know if they are brothers, but they had a really fun time performing for the large crowd of beach goers as the sun was setting.
Next to the beach is Connecticut’s premier Jennings Beach Skate Park. The design of the park is amazing, and it was fitting that the group H.G.O.D. sang their freestyle rap there.
As the sun set, I finished the day back in downtown Fairfield, which has been the hub of the Fairfield Make Music Day activities. I stopped at the gazebo one last time for the Low Darts, then over to the SHU Community Theater which was hosting Galush. Louisa Rojo was performing in front of J.B. Percival, and lastly I stopped at Fairfield Theatre Company to catch Residual Groove, the last show of the day.
30 performances. 20 venues. Many of the artists and venues that I have photos of, but are not mentioned in the article, can be found in the gallery below, which is a subset of all of the final photos. Plus, in the gallery you can see the Exif data for each photo, if that’s of interest to you.
As busy as the day was for me, it would not have been possible without the huge effort by Lou Heumann who scheduled 62 artists at 23 locations, managed all of the logistics as well as the thousands of large and small details that go into making an event like this such a success.
Oh, and by the way, the knee did great!
Gallery help: Click on any photo to enlarge. Arrow keys to move through enlarged photos. Exif on bottom-left of each photo.
