Annapolis Baygrass Music Festival recently returned to Sandy Point State Park on the scenic Chesapeake Bay beachfront in Annapolis, MD for two days of music, fun, community, and environmental sustainability.
In addition to performances by Yonder Mountain String Band, Railroad Earth, Keller & The Keels, Melvin Seals & JGB, Fruition, Cabinet, Cris Jacobs & Smooth Kentucky, Jon Stickley Trio, Arkansauce, The Dirty Grass Players, The High & Wides, Wicked Sycamore, and Lindsay Lou (full band with her band and as a floating artist-at-large), Annapolis Baygrass Music Festival placed a thematic focus on environmental conservation efforts for the ailing Chesapeake Bay ecosystem.
Alongside the event’s high-powered alternative bluegrass music lineup, attendees interacted with information booths, enjoyed bay-focused art and photography, and partook in various children’s activities, while an “elevated food and drink experience” featuring locally sourced crab cakes, oysters, and other delicacies as well as custom-brewed beers by Idiom Brewery (“Troubled Waters”) and Pherm Brewing (“Baytoberfest”) allowed patrons to “taste the bay.”
In addition, a comprehensive onsite sustainability initiative ensured that best practices were followed with regard to recycling, reusing, and composting waste, and 10% of all proceeds from ticket, food, beverage, and merchandise sales will benefit Maryland-based nonprofit organizations that work to protect the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed. Nonprofit partners like Watershed Stewards Academy, Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, and the Oyster Recovery Partnership were also present on site to provide an immersive educational element to the proceedings via a series of workshops.
This year, the festival designated “In The Water”, the conservation-themed track by Baygrass house band Geraldine, as the event’s official theme song. Penned by John Bolten, Ph.D., the Geraldine singer/songwriter/guitarist who also serves as chief of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s Hydrological Sciences Lab, the song was recorded with special guest Cris Jacobs for the band’s recent album, Paw Paw. Watch Geraldine perform “In The Water” at Annapolis Baygrass Music Festival 2023 below.
Geraldine – “In The Water” (Official Festival Theme Song) – Annapolis Baygrass Music Festival 2023
[Video: Festy GoNuts]
“You don’t have to be technical,” festival co-founder Ron Peremel, a certified watershed steward, explained to Live For Live Music of the event’s unique appeal. “All you gotta do is show up and you’re doing something. That’s the beauty of the concept and how it actualizes into really affecting and putting things to work from others who can do it. You just need to learn about it and show up and have some fun. As we like to say, every jam saves the bay!” Read more about the environmental concerns and initiatives behind Annapolis Baygrass Music Festival here. See you again next year on the Bay!
Below, check out a gallery of photos from the weekend via Jay Strausser, Sam Watson, and Chris Gamber.
The post Annapolis Baygrass Music Festival 2023: The Weekend In Photos [Gallery] appeared first on L4LM.
