Kalina Brookfield, Contributing Photographer

Dozens gathered Saturday to enjoy music from local folk artists at the 31st annual Connecticut Folk Fest and Green Expo.

A line of ponchos, raincoats, tents and umbrellas assembled in front of a stage to hear folk artist Crys Matthews perform her final song. As Matthews concluded her set with rich chords, a warm voice and a message of remaining optimistic in the pursuit of justice, the sun emerged from behind the clouds.

The festival convened Saturday at Edgerton Park, presenting a lineup of both local artists and national headliners, including Tom Rush and Leyla McCalla. Event-goers enjoyed a full day of music, accompanied by an assortment of food truck vendors and a tent marketplace of local, environmentally-conscious businesses and nonprofits, as well as a “Green Kids Village” with activities and learning opportunities for children and adults alike to enjoy throughout the day.

The festival has had ties to the environmental movement since its debut in 1989 as a fundraiser for the Farmington Rail to Trail Association and the Connecticut Fund for the Environment. In 2005, the “Green Expo” component of the festival was added as a way to promote local environmental organizations and involve the community.

“I think there’s something about music that ties you to something greater than yourself,” AG Barry, the president of the Board of Directors for CT Folk, said. “When we started integrating environmental sustainability, it was a super natural overlap because of how connected our community is to things that are bigger than themselves, and so part of that is our responsibility to maintain the planet that we’re living on.”

Coming together for more than music

Attendees of the festival showed up for many different reasons. 

“Music is what I center my life around in a lot of ways, as a form of expression it’s very grounding,” said Clay Emanuel, a resident of New Haven. Emanuel is heavily involved in the New Haven music scene, playing everything from drums to piano to bass across multiple bands. 

Others, like Lauren Fenton, came to support the musicians on stage. She made the trip along with her husband and two children from New York to watch Leyla McCalla, their close friend, perform on stage.

The event also appealed to those like Wendy Perrotti, who are less involved with the city’s musical communities. Perrotti lives in the New Haven area, and for the past 30 years, she has regularly gone to events at Edgerton Park. Despite being unfamiliar with the music scene, she and her husband find themselves attending the CT Folk Fest and Green Expo year after year. 

“I like the combination of music and just a really friendly vibe,” Perrotti said, “I really think that’s why people come to Folk Fest. Folk music has the intention of bringing people together around ideas.”

Promoting environmentally-friendly local causes

The “Green Expo” section of the event contained multiple rows of small white tents, each featuring a local environmental organization. Visitors perused from tent to tent between sets. Local artisans sold creations such as homemade jewelry made with grains of rice, pear-prosecco scented candles and on-the-go hiking bidets. 

Many tents housed Connecticut-based organizations centered around social justice work. These included the Brave Nature School as well as Voices Cafe, a venue that also hosts primarily folk concerts and uses its proceeds to fund social justice initiatives.

“Throughout American history, music has been so instrumental in justice,” Shahan Islam, who was manning the Voices Cafe tent, said. Islam cited the activism of musicians like Peter Yarrow — of Peter, Paul and Mary — performing for the 1963 March on Washington, as well as Joan Baez and Bob Dylan. “The history is just, you know, kind of endless.”

The CT Folk Festival and Green Expo plans to return in September 2025.