TURNERS FALLS — The 7th annual Música Franklin “Fun Fest” is returning to Unity Park in Turners Falls on Saturday, May 10 for a free, family-friendly day of music and activities, with students getting the chance to showcase their year of musical growth. 

This year, the festival will start at 12:30 p.m., and will feature the students of Música Franklin, a free after-school music and social justice program based in Franklin County. The students will perform a 45-minute set of their choral and instrumental repertoire alongside other headliner musicians including Jazzkia Meets HipHop, Larksgrove, Roberto Piñeiro y su Orquesta Sensacional, and the Turners Falls High School Band.

“They've been working all year on some of the things that they're going to perform, and it takes a lot of preparation,” Música Franklin Development and Communications Manager Annierose Klingbeil said about the students in an interview. 

The program, which runs the duration of the school year, allows participating students in grades one through 12 to learn a variety of musical skills in vocal and instrumental performance from musical instructors.

Outside of just the music, a dance party for all ages led by Anne Cubberly’s Giant Puppets will start at 4 p.m., and a drum circle with Abdou Sarr at 2:15 p.m. Arts and crafts and crafts vendors will be made available by Artspace Greenfield, and there will be a “instrument petting zoo” for people to try out different instruments, with food available from Stone Soup Cafe. Nonprofits also will have tables with information at Fun Fest.

 A showcase for progress

The kids at Música Franklin have been rehearsing and performing throughout the year and Fun Fest, Klingbeil explained, is their chance to perform alongside professional musicians, and show off their progress to audiences. 

“I think it's really important for them. It gives them a lot of confidence, and it makes them feel really proud of their accomplishments, and I think it's really important for others to also see that in these kids,” she said. 

Música Franklin Executive Director Orice Jenkins said the students have made great progress in singing in harmonies, and the cello ensemble of the program has also grown with more students participating. 

“It is very impressive,” Jenkins said of the students, adding that “It's hard to focus on one note when you're hearing two other notes sung by other people in three-part harmonies.” 

As for the cello students, who he hopes will be able to perform a song at Fun Fest, they are capable of playing an all-cello song without having a violin there for a melody. He said with these students coming from a violin and vocal background, they are knowledgeable on how to “make a beautiful song” with their instruments. 

Jenkins expressed his gratitude for the headlining artists Fun Fest will feature this year, explaining how the New England States Touring program of the New England Foundation for the Arts, with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts Regional Touring Program and the six New England state arts agencies, helped Fun Fest book the touring performers, including Larksgrove and Jazzkia Meets HipHop. 

“I think it has really enabled us to get a really high caliber of musicians, and I think that's also really important because you don't get the opportunity to see live music a lot of the times at a high caliber at no cost,” Klingbeil said about the opportunities the funding has provided to Fun Fest. “I think that's been really important in driving the musical mission of Fun Fest.”

A new feature to Fun Fest this year will be the evening performance and open-jam session at The Rendezvous, 78 3rd St., with Jazzkia Meets HipHop performing a jazz, hip-hop fusion set from 7 to 8 p.m., followed by an open-jam session with the group from 8:30 to 10 p.m. that is open to all performers and age-levels. 

For the full event line-up and information, visit https://www.musicafranklin.org/fun-fest. In the event of rain, Fun Fest will be held at Greenfield High School at 21 Barr Ave. in Greenfield.

 Erin-Leigh Hoffman can be reached at ehoffman@recorder.com or 413-930-4231.