Maine news, sports, weather from Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram, Portland, Maine

Free music, all kinds, all day, at the Old Port Festival

By Ray Routhier rrouthier@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer

There's nothing like free live music to get people in a festive mood.

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Puppets prance in the parade of an Old Port Festival past.

Staff file photo

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IF YOU GO

WHAT: 37TH ANNUAL OLD PORT FESTIVAL

WHEN: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday

WHERE: Portland’s Old Port, in an area roughly bounded by Federal, Commercial, Temple and Pearl streets.

HOW MUCH: Free admission and music. Food for sale; some amusements charge a fee.

AREA PARKING: Fore Street Parking Garage ($10 flat rate for day); Spring Street Parking Garage; Custom House Square Garage, Pearl Street; Cumberland County Garage, Newbury Street: One City Center, Monument Square; Temple Street Garage; Top of the Old Port parking lot, Congress Street; Elm Street Garage; Gateway Parking Garage, High Street; Casco Bay Lines Garage, Commercial Street; Fore Street Garage, off Union Street

INFO: www.portlandmaine.com

 

MUSIC SCHEDULE

WCLZ Stage, Fore and Pearl Streets

Noon: Don Campbell Band

1 p.m.: Gypsy Tailwind

2 p.m.: Zach Jones

3 p.m.: Jason Spooner Trio

4 p.m.: Fanfarlo

Sebago Brewing Company Stage, Middle and Pearl streets

Noon: WBLM Band

2 p.m.: Saddleback Mountain Bluegrass Festival Hour featuring the Stowaways

4 p.m.: Jacob Augustine

WPOR 101.9 Stage, Fore and Union streets

Noon: Kelly Parker Band

1:15 p.m.: Gwen Sebastian

2:30 p.m.: Bridgette Tatum

3:45 p.m.: Brady Seals

Bull Feeney’s Irish Music Stage, Moulton Street

Noon: Maine Public Safety Pipe & Drum Corps

12:35 p.m.: The Milliners

1:55 p.m.: Maine Public Safety Pipe & Drum Corps

2:30 p.m.: The Pubcrawlers

3:40 p.m.: Maine Public Safety Pipe & Drum Corps

4:15 p.m.: The Squid Jiggers

Q97.9 STAGE, Middle and Temple streets (times unavailable at press time)

Agnes

The Maine

Tommy Page

Charice

Shontelle

Cartel

Spose

Maine Academy of Modern Music Stage, Dana Street

Noon: Important Papers

12:20 p.m.: Shift

12:40 p.m.: Skirts and Belly Shirts

1 p.m.: Beware of Pedestrians

1:30 p.m.: OxyMorons

2 p.m.: MAMM Rock-Off winners, Low Flying Airplanes

2:30 p.m.: Totem

3 p.m.: The Loudest Mime

3:30 p.m.: Phantom Companion

4 p.m.: All Quiet Ire

4:30 p.m.: And More

And free music is a definite focus of the 37th Annual Old Port Festival happening Sunday in downtown Portland.

There will be six music "stages" set up throughout the Old Port, with different acts all afternoon. The festival's organizer, Portland's Downtown District, hired some 30 bands for the show. About 40,000 people usually attend the festival, so you know Mainers like their free music.

There are also lots of other activities, especially for children. The festival kicks off at 11 a.m. with a parade led by Shoestring Theater, a community-based puppet theater in Portland. Activities continue until 5 p.m.

More than 90 Maine artists will show and sell their art and crafts down on the lower end of Market Street. There will be a 25-foot rock-climbing wall on upper Market Street and a children's area with pony rides at Post Office Park.

The six music stages offer a diverse and interesting mix of performers and styles, from teen bands playing punk, rock, pop and hardcore on the Maine Academy of Modern Music Stage to Irish music performers on the Bull Feeney's stage, and from top local bands on the WCLZ stage to up-and-coming national pop acts on the Q97.9 stage.

WCLZ (98.9 FM) has a big focus on local music, and its stage at Fore and Pearl streets presents some of Portland's best-known local acts, including country/rock musician Don Campbell, who tours the nation and splits his time between Nashville and Maine. The stage also includes singer-songwriter Jason Spooner, Gypsy Tailwind, Zach Jones and Fanfarlo.

The Maine Academy of Modern Music stage has the most bands with 11. Low Flying Airplanes, a folk-rock band that won the academy's Rock Off competition on May 1, will perform from 2 to 2:30 p.m.

Pop radio station WJBQ (97.9 FM) reached out to various national record labels for the collection of acts on its stage, including The Maine (Interscope Records), Charice (Reprise Records) and Shontelle (Universal-Motown). The stage also has Maine rapper Spose, who is signed to Universal-Motown.

There's also a variety of bluegrass acts on the Sebago Brewing Company stage, and country acts at the WPOR (101.9 FM) stage. WPOR's line-up includes local (the Kelly Parker Band) and national acts such as Gwen Sebastian, Bridgette Tatum and Brady Seals.

So if you wander the Old Port Festival for even a few minutes, you should be able to find some music to suit you. Whatever your mood.

Staff Writer Ray Routhier can be contacted at 791-6454 or at:

rrouthier@pressherald.com