Fairfax Festival - A Truly Homegrown Event

Whew! We’ve got another festival under our collective belts and committee members are basking in the glow of a flood of compliments from friends and neighbors. I know, because I wore my crew t-shirt uptown yesterday and several people stopped me with comments – 100% positive by the way.

These days most festivals have become generic, ho hum affairs run by professional promoters and filled with out of town craft and food vendors as well as musicians who follow the circuit. Not so here. We take special pride in being a totally homegrown event. The festival is produced by an energetic and creative group of Fairfax residents with the unofficial motto  “something for everyone”. All the food purveyors are local as are many of the artists and flea market vendors, and our three stages are known for showcasing many of the hometown musicians Fairfax is famous for.

Exuberant behavior around the music stages always gets the most press but the thing we’re the most proud of is the diversity of our celebration of everything Fairfaxian: In addition to three stages with great local music we are home to a major Ecofest, a charming flea market, a crafts area under the redwoods, an ever growing array of kid’s attractions on the ball field, lot’s of local non profit outreach booths and some darn good food and drink. And anyone who sees it never forgets the wacky Saturday morning parade. (You can see some excellent .)

My heartfelt thanks and admiration to the dozens of fine folks who put in countless hours over the past six months to create this great community event. Here’s a list of some of the key players. When you see them around town be sure to give them a thumbs up.

• Denyce Codoni: parade
• Eddie Katzman: flea market
• Meredith Law: festival administration and artist coordinator
• Mike McShea: advertising
• Adrienne Biggs: publicity
• Jack Irving and his green room assistant: music and musician hospitality
• Jen Jones: ecofest
• Mel Peratis: ecofest music
• Rene Goddard: waste management
• Renu Mahora: ecofest website
• Todd Schoop; festival website
• Karen Saura: volunteers
• Holly Bragman: wine and beer tasting
• Judy Anderson: town liaison
• Chris Lang: waste management

Richard Pedemonte is the Fairfax Festival director.