The Finger Lakes GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance was recently named one of USA Today’s top 10 outdoor music festivals – and for good reason. A veritable right-of-passage for any self-described music lover who resides in Central New York, this annual event, now in its 27th year, is wondrous to behold and even more gratifying to experience.
Headlined by Donna the Buffalo, The Horse Flies, and Neon Baptist in its inaugural year, what began as a sold-out concert at the State Theater in Ithaca, NY, to benefit AIDS workers in Tompkins County is now full-fledged cultural movement that raises consciousness and funds for organizations that support the arts, music education, and the fight against AIDs, both locally and globally.
Nearly 30 years later, though, GrassRoots has kept this philanthropic focus by enticing fans with one of the most eclectic mix of musical genres in the scene. From local bluegrass to international roots music, West African revival to zydeco, Americana to Native Americana, and everything in between, Grassroots has it all.
In addition to the original gathering in Trumansburg, Donna the Buffalo now hosts two additional GrassRoots gatherings in Pittsboro, North Carolina and Miami, Florida. Devoted fans – The Herd, as they are known – are a self-organized “tribe” who meet religiously at these festivals and other Donna shows throughout the country.
This past weekend’s lineup also included the Drive-By Truckers, Jamestown Revival, Keith Frank & The Soileau Zydeco Band, Sim Redmond Band, The Horse Flies, The Del McCoury Band, John Brown’s Body, Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad, Sophistafunk, and many more. Nearly 15,000 travel from throughout New York and New England to celebrate life, love, nature, community, and togetherness on the shores of Cayuga Lake and among the gorges of the Finger Lakes.
In just the six hours this writer was able to attend, my ears were treated to the future reggae rock of Morgan Heritage, the raw Afro-fusion energy of Mokoomba, the folk-country soul of Donna the Buffalo, and more. Two personal highlights, however, illustrate exactly why Grassroots is such a unique musical experience – a local bluegrass quartet at sunset followed by an Afro-Columbian band at midnight.
Hailing from Binghamton, NY, Driftwood is Americana/folk-rock band composed of some of the finest pickers (and fiddler) this side of the Mason-Dixon Line. It’s been an absolute pleasure to watch this band grow from the hometown circuit to the national stage. As my good friend, known only as Bob Cat, has said, every one of their shows is a warm invitation to remember why we love bluegrass in the first place. Simply put, Driftwood beings the acoustic heat.
On the other end of the musical spectrum, Grammy- and Latin Grammy-nominated Locos Por Juana brings the Latin fire. Hailing from Miami and oozing an energetic blend of the best of South America, Locos fuses together cumbia, calypso, and Caribbean sounds with overtones of funk and hip-hop to produce one infectious groove after another. All in all, these bands are well worth the time and attention, and each deserves your finest dancing shoes (or bare feat, if that’s your thing).
But Grassroots is about much, much more than good music. With an on-site farmer’s market serving organic fruits, veggies, and prepared good from around the Finger Lakes, to the onsite café serving freshly roasted coffee – those with official Grassroots mugs receive a graduated discount based on the year of purchase – the festival is local to the core and fiercely eco-friendly, eschewing any and all corporate sponsorship. “Make the Earth Great Again” was hand-written on a lawn sign that greeted all attendees at the main entrance.
With plentiful yoga and dance workshops, music and arts classes, drum circles and a Happiness parade on the final day, GrassRoots is largely a direct outgrowth of Ithacan culture – inclusive and Bohemian – but absent pretentiousness that often accompanies Ivy League towns. While the event is also extremely family friendly, with tons of children playing freely and cooperatively throughout the venue, it is also one hell of a good party, especially at night.
Grassroots is far more than a simple gathering of friends and family, and provides near endless ways to abide where so many other festivals simply do not. As one gentleman described it to me, GrassRoots is “a hundred different nodes of energy that create an elevated state that lasts the entire weekend – and into the year ahead.” Perhaps that’s why nearly everyone you meet wishes you a warm and hearty ‘Happy GrassRoots’ as though it were New Year’s Day. For many, no doubt, it is.
[cover photo from GrassRoots Facebook]
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