Success!

Yesterday Miners Creek, along with Manny’s and State of Maine Cheese Co., organized an event called Local Flavor Fare. The goal was to have local artists, vendors, farmers, and musicians come together in a celebration of local industry and creativity. We had very little budget and very little idea of how things would turn out.

As a member of Miners Creek, I was  most heavily involved in the music side of things. In fact I’m not really sure how the rest of the event ended up going because I ended up running point for the musicians and MCing the stage. This was a little nerve wracking but ended up being pretty fun. I think that with a little more preparation I could do a better job. I announced the musicians and let everyone in the audience know what else was going on inside Rockport Marketplace. I kept the acts running on time and greeted the musicians as they arrived. I even ran sound a little bit, which was probably the most stressful part of my day.

At first I was worried that nobody would show up, that all these bands would come out to play for an empty parking lot. My fears did not come true. There was a fairly consistent audience throughout the day – at one point I think every chair we had was filled and some folks even brought their own chairs. And they were a good audience. They stayed throughout the entire performance, they tipped the musicians, they clapped appreciatively. Some even bought CDs. And most importantly, the musicians seemed happy with how things turned out.

Besides playing with my own band and introducing the other bands, I also got on stage and played with David Scott Norton. I had only just met David and hadn’t played most of the songs he played, but the true miracle of traditional/country music is that most of it utilizes the same three chords, so you can improvise pretty easily.

I’m amazed with how much music has changed who I am as a person. It’s helped me open up to strangers and put myself out there. Only a few months ago I would not have been comfortable with playing songs I didn’t know with someone I’d only just met. I would have been too afraid of making a fool of myself. Okay, I did make some mistakes yesterday, but if anybody noticed they didn’t say anything to me. In fact, I got more compliments for my bass playing than I’ve ever gotten before from both audience members and the other musicians. I hope I have the opportunity to branch out and play with other people, because I’m discovering that the more people I get a chance to play with, the better my ear has become and the better musician I’m becoming.

The two major highlights of the Local Flavor Fare were the music and the Pig Roast. Maine Street Meats roasted a pig and made the most amazing pulled pork sandwiches. This was a major attraction, though it took a little while before the pig was ready and people were a little impatient. In the end, the anticipation was worth it. Best pulled pork sandwich I’ve ever had.

This was such a fun event to be apart of and we’re already planning how we can make it even better next year. So, if you didn’t get a chance to come this year keep an eye out for the Second Annual Local Flavor Fare.

Thank you for Reading!