I have been one of the core organizers of the Pennybrook Festival every year since it began, but this is the first year that I was living at Pennybrook Farm during the festival. In past years I have sometimes tented and sometimes gone home to my then-house. How much more awesome was it to have my own Tiny Home right on the festival grounds? Much more awesome – to have my own comfy bed right here and to have no reason to leave all weekend, because although the Festival is technically only on Saturday, our home overflowed with music for the entire weekend.
Friday was the biggest set up day. A number of friends came by to help erect the tents while Charlie put the roof on the stage that Jude had built through the week. As dark fell, the banjos came out. #BANJOY! We had two fine pickers here: Darren Arsenault and a wandering minstrel who goes by the name of Railroad Ty. Jude joined them on mandolin and each of them switched to guitar on occasion. It was a fine night of songs.
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| I'm really bad about not taking photos during events. I prefer to be right in the experience instead of watching it from behind my camera. So, the last Pennybrook photo I took was of the stage on Friday night. And I didn't take another one until the one at the end of this post: a photo of the site this morning, now that it's all over. |
Festival Day on Saturday dawned grey and overcast, threatening rain. The
weather here is so changeable that we decided to take no notice. We
proceeded to finish the last preparations – we hung our new black
curtains (donated by my stepdad – THANKS!) around the stage and set out
more chairs. By noon, the sun was in full force and we had a perfect day
for the festival, sunny and warm with a cool breeze. A fair few
mosquitoes, but we survived the bites!
The line-up was truly stellar. Jude has a gift for booking great musicians who are also really nice people. Everyone who came and performed added to the fun. And so did the audience. It was a joy to see everybody get along. We used my Wholehearted House as the green room and it was a very fun for me to provide food and drinks and a warm welcome to the musicians. I loved having so many friendly and talented hearts in my home throughout the day! I also invited everyone in the audience to feel welcome to poke their heads in to have a look at my home if they were curious. Many people came and expressed their interest in and appreciation for my sweet little home.
In terms of the music, I think my favourite act of the day was Lucas Reeves and the Lunar Skyline. Lucas has a simply phenomenal voice and his three-piece band brought a very danceable up-tick to the day's tempo. But 15-year-old Liam Potter also blew us all away and surprise substitutes Sahara Jane and Dant Lee (who filled in for all but two of the songs of flu-stricken Erika Kulnys' set) were an unexpected treat. Everyone was brilliant – those are just my personal highlights.
The potluck supper was a smash success again this year: Spatchcocked BBQ chicken, beans, salads, chili and much more (om nom nom).
The music didn't stop with the end of the scheduled musicians. The party moved to the bonfire and the music opened up to musicians and audience members alike. Some late-comers arrived with guitars and smiles and hugs. The party went late (I must admit I staggered off to bed long before it was over, but I could still hear the music from my home until I fell asleep).
Sunday dawned sunny. I made some bacon-cheddar scones to share and our friend and neighbour Kerriann (who is our coffee guru at the West Dublin Market) made coffee and hash browns for everybody. I had nice chats with my fellow early-risers.
I was feeling wiped out on Sunday. It has been a very busy summer for me and the past couple of weeks had been emotionally exhausting as well (for reasons I won't get into here). I did a little work collecting recyclables, particularly wanting to get the glass bottles up off the ground. I did a survey of broken cups and glasses – that's one way to downsize possessions – volunteer the breakable things to be used at a folk festival! I washed several dishpans full of dishes and retrieved my silverware from the pool that had been used for the potluck.
I spent the rest of Sunday lying
in my chaise lounge and napping in bed. I felt so happy and relieved to
have the pressure of helping with the festival off my shoulders. The music continued
with an all-day jam that went electric in the afternoon. I drove a
stranded festival goer home and picked up a little more booze on the way
back. That evening, Kerriann came back after work and we had a little visit in my
house. We were joined by more and more folks – I think at the peak I had
8 people in my tiny home, shooting the breeze and drinking whiskey. It
was so much fun! It felt like exactly the warming that my house has been
needing.
The evening was soft and gentle and at the end, three dear friends and I were sitting on my deck singing a Capella gospel songs and glorying in a beautiful summer night. That was my favourite moment of Pennybrook 2014. Warm arms around me, warm hearts with me, warm voices weaving harmonies. Perfect.
It was back to work for me yesterday – I had a client meeting in Wolfville and files to wrap up for another client. We got the rented gear returned to Long and McQuade in New Minas. There is still clean-up to do, but I am officially on a semi-vacation. No more pressure, no more stress and a break from heavy responsibilities.
I'm going to enjoy this little pause. My next big task will be winterizing Wholehearted House (I had many conversations about how to do this with various festival-goers). I expect that will be my next blog post, too.
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