2012 ROSENDALE MUSIC FESTIVAL, PART I

The 34th Annual Rosendale Music Festival and Street Fest took place on July 21st and 22nd.
More than 25,000 people attended the festival over two days.  Rosendale has gone through a considerable metamorphosis during the time of the festival.  There is much evidence of vitality on Main Street, which is the long axis from bridge to bridge of the festival activities.  There are five stages distributed off Main Street with 5 different bands playing every hour from 11:00AM-7:00PM Saturday and Sunday.

This row ofvendors on Main Street included (R-L) Green T-Shirts and Bags, Pine Hill Books, and Freshly Made Paella.

The building housing the Guitar Store, across from the Pine Hill Books Booth in front of 391 Main Street is a good example of how painting the Edwardian Era buildings to bring out their details has dressed up the Rosendale Main Street to make it more festive and inviting.

Festival goers browsing at the Pine Hill Books booth appreciated the mix of Steampunk, science fiction, fantasy, horror, localhistory, and childrens books.  The comics and vinyl records were also popular.

The Pine Hill Books booth crew included Caleb, Marilyn, and Chelsea.

The Green T-Shirt and Bag people had attractive merchandise.  They came to the festival from Manhattan.

The Rosendale THeater has been taken over by a group of people from the town and is run cooperatively.  A film festival was offered as a part of the Music Festival.  Home made ice cream was sold throughout the festival from a vendor cart in front of the cheese store.

An intense band of two plays their country rock music at one of the smaller festival stages at the upper bridge in Rosendale.

Sunshine, good music, and friendly sunflowers made this venue featuring country and folk music attractive to many at the festival.

Hula hoop dancers in front of the musicians were a fun aspect of the festival.

This little old house nestled on Main Street is a pleasing part of the street.

The Interactive Drum Area in front of one of the stores was a great idea, and one of the best ideas at the Festival.  People of all ages would stop by as the walked up Main Street and join the impromptu groups playing the percussion instruments.  Sometimes the rhythms were enchanting.

If you look through the front counter of the paella stand you can see the home made "Catskill Mountain Rickshaw" carrying a festival  goer down Main Street.

The booth of the Roller Derby "Team Misfits" from Kingston attracted a lot of attention.  They are joing a local Roller Derby league.

The listing of the bands playing at the "Firehouse Stage" on Saturday.  Big Bowl of Soul was at 1:00PM. They were excellent!

In my opinion, this was the best band at the festival: Big Bowl of Soul."

The lead singer for Big Bowl of Soul.

The trombone and sax players from Big Bowl of Soul.

The weird special mirror in the mirror booth along Main Street.  A passerby has taken their picture in the mirror as it rotates.