Lancaster Roots & Blues Festival '16
Lifestyle By Amans Brindled at Lancaster Roots & Blues Festival 2016
I haven’t been to Lancaster in decades. I remember the trips when I was a youngster
travelling with my Mom, Dad and Cousin Juan.
One of the highlights was the visit to Dutch Wonderland, more on that at
another time.
I enjoy diverse offerings of music and art in general, however I've been feeling the Blues and Roots scene of late so it was perfect
that I would be traveling to Lancaster for the Roots & Blues Festival ’16.
My traveling partners included Kathleen Capria and Kevin
Duddy. We left Saturday afternoon for
the ~2 hour trip. Leaving from Trenton
NJ via US Route #1 South into Pennsylvania then the PA Turnpike and straight out to
Lancaster.
The weather was gorgeous, with a feel of spring. We laughed, joked, talked about current
events and before we knew it we were upon our exit.
We decided to have a drive through the “countryside” hoping
to capture images of the landscape, farmland and if possible a horse and buggy.
Entering the City Limits we passed a 20 something walking
with his guitar case and immediately we thought he had to be one of the performers
heading to one of the number of gigs for this years festival. We came upon the Lancaster Brewing Co. and
thought this would be a good time for some food and of course a pint or two.
The Lancaster Brewing Co. took some space and made a “rain garden” out front which in the spring/summer growing season provides a natural
landscape, habitat for insects and helps the rainwater permeate the
ground.
The interior pays homage to the buildings past and offers
many things for visitors. They have a
bar area with several TV’s, a small shop selling merchandise and the "house beer" as
well as a number of tables that seat parties of 2, 4 and more.
We took a table and were served by Reagan who walked us
through the menu, beer flight and Lancaster in general. We shared some apps and a flight of
everything they had on tap. Kathy and I
are “Hop Heads” we had several to choose from; Kevin on the other hand had been
feeling the “Stouts.”
After a short a ride through some neighborhoods that gave us
the feeling of Mill Hill in Trenton, NJ or Old City in Philadelphia, PA, we
found street parking, which was free and headed to the festival HQ located in
the Lancaster Convention Center attached to the Lancaster Marriott Penn Square.
The Convention Center had vendors and information
available. Have a listen and look at
some of the vendors we chatted with.
Mark Marafioti of Music
For Everyone (the 20 something we passed coming into town)
Austin Chocolate
Moonshine Co
We popped into the Convention Center main stage for a peak at
the Lexus VIP display, thank you John Tucker.
Off we went heading to the Chameleon Club to catch Lil’ Ed and the Blues
Imperials. The walk was short and
included image capturing of the sites, which included monuments, public art and
some window-shopping.
The Chameleon Club has multiple floors, multiple bars and
site lines. Lil’ Ed and the Blues
Imperials “rocked it” they are in rotation over both of my programs.
Next we headed out looking for some dinner with the
expectation of a late night. A Police
Officer offered us some suggestions and we headed to the Federal Tap House. The two-hour wait wasn’t going to work so we
headed to Yorgos Cafe, with multiple
TV’s, a decent bottled beer selection and very good prices. Besides that we were greeted by a 20 something female who
is obviously a regular, suggested we have try the prime rib which was on
special, of course I did. The food was
good, the service good and prices very reasonable.
Next we headed around the corner to Rabbit and the Dragonfly, self-described
as “A beautiful café and bookstore that serves locally sourced, housemade food,
and drinks. We host a variety of weekly
and special events in an atmosphere inspired by the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien,
C.S. Lewis and The Inklings.” Mark
Marafioti the 20 something we saw carrying the guitar case hours earlier
suggested we stop in to see him perform, glad we did.
We then headed back to the Convention Center to check out the
main stage where we saw several songs from The Stray Birds.
We then headed to Tellus360
where we saw sets by The Banditos
and the Ursula Ricks Project.
The night ended at Tellus360 catching most of the Johnny Cash
Jam featuring well over a dozen Artists performing tracks by the late great man
in black.
The trip to Lancaster for the Blues & Roots Festival ’16
was a good one, dates have been set for ’17 I hope to see
you there!
The following images were captured by Kevin Duddy Photos
The following images were captured by Amans Brindled
The following images were captured by Kevin Duddy Photos
The following images were captured by Amans Brindled