The annual Keene Music Fest (KMF) featured over 55 performers, both local and regional, on numerous stages across downtown Keene.
The festival took place on Saturday, August 31, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
“We try and clean it up, make it a little better every year, make it a little more accessible,” said Matt Martel, a member of the KMF board. “We are adding things each year.”
The festival is volunteer-run, including the board. The board holds fundraisers to raise the money needed for the festival.
“Our board incubates fundraising ideas together, and then whatever ends up having legs, we run with,” said Martel. “This year, we did a rage-out yoga with Everglow Wellness, which is yoga, heavy metal and screaming.”
Martel, a musician himself, said he enjoys working for the festival because of the connections.
“I like being able to meet a huge amount of new performers and musicians,” he
said.
“KMF is a big passion project, it’s really just a labor of love,” he said.
Martel said he hopes their marketing draws more people to the festival.
“We have a lot of folks who are still unaware it’s a thing, despite it having gone on for 20 years or so,” he said. “We’re trying to get the word out a little more.”
Martel said passersby often learn about the festival when they find themselves in the middle of it.
“People seem to really like the serendipity of just going downtown to get a pizza and finding out there’s a giant music fest happening and spending the day enjoying it,” he added.
For KSC Audiovisual Operations Coordinator Trinity Nay, this was her second time performing at the festival.
“They had plugged me in on the same stage I’m performing at this year,” Nay said. “I really enjoyed it last year, which is why I threw my hat in again.”
“I think my nerves definitely showed last year, hopefully more than they will this year,” she added.
Nay’s 2024 set consisted mainly of original songs.
“I am a singer-songwriter. My joke is that I did not say guitarist, so people need to temper their expectations,” she said. “It’s really just a way to accompany the voice. It’s just the songs stripped down to their barest forms,” Nay said.
Nay describes her genre of music as “limerence folk.”
“My husband calls it ‘therapy rock,’” she said.
KMF was a big milestone for Nay as a soloist.
“It was the first time that I had performed a full-length set as a solo performer,” she said. “Most of my experience [performing], I was with a group.”
Nay also performed some songs written by her father, political singer-songwriter Frank H. Stanavage.
“It’s my way of honoring his legacy,” she said. “He was constantly singing. There was always music in our house.”
Nay also hopes more people come to the festival.
“I think we forget often, in Keene, just how rich a musical community we have here in this region,” she said. “So things like the [KMF] are so important. I’ve connected with other musicians last year just because they happened to be playing before or after my set, and I never would have heard of them.”
Nay said she would like to see a greater KSC presence at the festival.
“I wish more of our students would get involved in going out into community events like this and seeing how much the Monadnock region has to offer,” she added.
Audience reaction to the festival was largely positive.
“I have a lot of friends in local bands, so I like to show up and support them when I can,” Talia Follansbee of Keene said.
“I think it’s really cool that Keene does a lot of local performances, but also has a lot of festivities,” said Emily Haley, also from Keene. “Just to be able to see the community come together for different things is really amazing and it definitely fosters a good sense of community.”
Emily Sloane can be contacted at
esloane@kscequinox.com
