Ideally located along a serpentine swath of the Charles River, the 27th Cambridge River Festival returns on Saturday, June 17, from Noon-6pm, to honor the flourishing arts and cultural community of this diverse and magnetic city.
The festival takes place along a mile-long stretch of Memorial Drive between JFK Street (three blocks from the Harvard Square subway station) and Western Avenue. Sponsored by the Cambridge Arts Council, this spirited festival spotlights musical and artistic talents, a creative and playful Kids Area, as well as its famed International Bazaar and vendors offering a wide-ranging selection of food from around the world.
This event is free and held rain or shine.
Entertaining Events and Activities
Nationally known and local musical performers from jazz, folk, gospel, Latin and world music will grace three music stages.
Passim Stage – By the Weeks Footbridge at DeWolfe Street
Performers selected by the Passim Folk Music & Cultural Center. Since 1958, Club Passim has entertained a diverse audience in its efforts to cultivate and preserve folk music. Club Passim helped launch the careers of musicians such as Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Ritchie Havens, and many others. Hosted by Naomi Arenberg and Brendan Hogan, WGBH Radio.
12 Noon Silver Leaf Gospel Singers Soulful gospel music
1pm Anne Heaton Band Pop sensibility with piano and vocals
2pm Jake Armerding Folk, bluegrass, classical, and pop
3pm Kenny White Band Piano-based melodic rock
4pm & 5pm Session American & friends Traditional American blues, rock,country,folk
with surprise guest artists
Regattabar Stage – By the Weld Boathouse at JFK Street
Performers selected by the Regattabar located at the Charles Hotel in the heart of Harvard Square. Since opening in January 1985, Regattabar has been a leading jazz club in New England. Hosted by Eric Jackson, WGBH Radio.
Noon & 3pm Edmar Castaneda Trio Colombian harpist weaves a hybrid style of jazz
and South American music
1pm Boston Horns Infectious rhythms of funk, jazz, and world beat and New Orleans masterpieces
2pm Somi New African Soul – Jazz music infused with
soul, African folk, and urban grooves
4pm Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey Post-modern Jazz trio influenced by indie rock,
electronic music, and pop
5pm Entrain Rock, blues, calypso, ska, zydeco, jazz, and funk from the eclectic sextet from Martha’s Vineyard
The Revolve Stage – Corporal Burns Park on Flagg Street
The third stage will send voices soaring with an outstanding array of local opera, choral, and gospel groups.
The City Formerly Known As Cambridge
The Institute for Infinitely Small Things, a collaboration of local artists, will hold a series of renaming expeditions of streets, neighborhoods, and parks in each of Cambridge’s 13 neighborhoods, before, during, and after the festival. This project will study the economic, political, and cultural interests that inspire place names, resulting in the publication of a new map, The City Formerly Known As Cambridge. Community input gathered in the first three research expeditions will be displayed at the Mobile Mapping Studio by the Weeks Footbridge.
Make Your Own
The Kids Area offers children (and adults!) the opportunity to create their own puppets at the Puppet Factory. The award winning improvisational group, ImprovBoston will coach kids in Puppet Karaoke, a chance to try out their new creations in playful theater games. Real life musicians from the group Uncle Monsterfacewill sing “a sock-puppet-quirk-rock” opera for children of all ages. The puppets (and their creators) can join the Grand Puppet Parade at 5:00 p.m. Also featured at the Pup Tent, Will Stackman’s Punch & Judy Show and Great Small Works’ Lyzer the Miser.
Rolling Along the River
At Noon, a half-mile bicycle ride will begin at Herter Park on the Boston side of the Charles River, and end with a parade at the festival. The street band Second Line Social Aid and Pleasure Society will lead the parade from JFK Street to Flagg Street on Memorial Drive. The ride is organized by Hub on Wheels, a program that increases public awareness and the appreciation of cycling by involving children and their parents in the healthy activity of bicycle riding. Following the bike parade, Hub on Wheels will host an informational table to answer questions about bicycle safety. For information about how to participate in the bike ride, visit their website at www.hubonwheels.org
Exotic Shopping and Dining
The ever-popular International Bazaar and World of Food will feature over 100 vendors this year, selling ethnic foods, paintings, sculptures, ceramics, pottery, jewelry, woodwork, photography, and metalwork.
With a Lot of Help from Our Friends
The Cambridge River Festival, an annual event since 1974, happens each year with the generous funding of donors and sponsors. For the third year, Novartis Institutes of Biomedical Research is the lead sponsor for the festival -- continuous support since they arrived in Cambridge in 2003. Media Sponsor WGBH 89.7: Boston's NPR Arts and Culture Station will host the music stages. The employee-directed foundation of Draper Laboratory has renewed their sponsorship for a second year, as has Bank of America and Dunkin' Donuts. New sponsors in 2006 are The Boston Globe, Pam Grilling Spray, AARP Magazine, Poland Spring, PowerBar and Zoe Foods.
QUICK FACTS:
What A one-day celebration of the arts along the banks of the Charles River
- Jazz, World, Latin, Gospel and Folk music
- Participatory Public Art projects
- Puppet-making and spin-art in the Kids Area
- Over 100 specialty food purveyors and craft vendors
Where Riverbend Park; One-mile stretch along Memorial Drive from JFK Street to Western Avenue
When Saturday, June 17, 2006 – Noon - 6pm – Rain or Shine!
Attendance 100,000+
Producer The Cambridge Arts Council is the official arts agency for the City of Cambridge since 1974.
Contact Website: www.cambridgeartscouncil.org
Phone: (617) 349-4380
Established in 1974, the mission of the Cambridge Arts Council (CAC) is to ensure that the arts remain vital for people living, working, and visiting in Cambridge. CAC produces high quality arts programming designed to strengthen the cultural community, including the multi-faceted Cambridge River Festival, an award-winning Public Art/Percent-for-Art Program, Art Among Us, the CAC Grant Program, Summer in the City, and the Street Performer Program.
