What an incredible day I had on this past Saturday, the second day of the 30th Annual Lowell Folk Festival. I started off the day around noon time and headed straight into downtown to walk along Merrimack Street. The crowds were excited, milling around to see all the booths, vendors, and events going on everywhere.
Shop owners were having sales and had an influx of festival goers in each of their stores. Local restaurants had yummy goodness to eat along with the folk festival ethnic food vendors that were incredibly enticing. I was so much to take in and admire, the hustle and bustle, the noise, the different types of music everywhere. It was a sight for sore eyes for sure!
I stopped at the first vendor I noticed Crose Nest, whose store is located at Mill No 5 and sipped on some yummy Hibiscus tea. I then walked over to Rosie’s booth (Rosie’s Cafe) and she made me an amazing Salted Caramel iced coffee, and there I was set to go and explore some more so I headed over to Humanity which was bustling with women trying to get the beautiful clothing pieces that had just come in. Check out some pictures below…
Ani & her beautiful store
Coffee Beans
Rosie's Cafe
Kinsey, Crose Nest
Kinsey & I
A shot of the street
I then started to trek around and caught some amazing performances including Ana Lains & the Sri Lankan Dance Crew, ate some amazing food, checked out some more booths and watched Ruben Arroco do a wonderful fruit carving demo. . .
Ana Lains was graceful, poised, funny and an incredibly talented singer. When I sat down, I thought I would sit for a few minutes take in a performance or two of hers and then go off somewhere else. I could not move, every single Fado she sang took me to another place and I was enchanted by her music and by the two guitar players she had with her, one playing a traditional Portuguese guitar and one playing a classical guitar. Check out the live video of her performing here
Ruben Arroco, who did the fruit carving demo was very talented. Making it seem as though carving faces, flowers and other items onto fruit was the easiest thing in the world. I thoroughly enjoyed myself watching him make art of fruit.
JFK Plaza
Ana Lains
Canal, Lucy Larcom Park
Incredible Fruit Carving
Ruben performing a demo
The crowd watching Ruben
Folk Craft
I then headed back to Merrimack Street, to grab a bite to eat and check out the Lowell Makes booth and say hello to some friends at Humanity. I had the most amazing Mango Smoothie from Greenspoon a newer restaurant that has an amazing chef, Daniel who comes up with all sorts of marvelous concoctions for his customers to eat; including this smoothie. With Mango,coconut milk cardamom, and a few other things, the spice and sweetness was uplifting. The chicken ceasar wrap I had from here is the best one I have had in a long time!! 🙂
Givewave Studios, based out of Lowell Makes had created a Pokemon Go Kart, specifically for the Lowell Folk Fest and was showing demos and letting people play live Pokemon Go. Everything from costumes to home furnishings, Givewave Studios always has something fun and unique to offer.
Check out the cool video of me performing music from fruit, here
I then caught the Sri Lankan Dance troupe and it was an exhilarating performance. Pounding drums, sweeping arms, energetic dance was what you could see and so much more. Live video of it here
Mango Smoothie- Greenspoon
Festival Fashion!
Little Delights Window
Merrimack Street
Friends daughter, Em & I
Lowell Makes Booth
Lucy Larcom Park
Chuck, Owner of Bishops & I
Dutton Street Pavillion
Wonderful dancing
Sri Lankan Dance Performance
Interior of Humanity
Givewave Studios, Pokemon & Roose
After this I went off to meet friends and find some good food, I checked out the Burmese food tent over at the Dutton Street Pavillion and I was so glad I did. The food was delicious and pefectly cooked and seasoned. The flavors were like none I had before and hit the palate in a myriad of ways.
Now it was just time to wait for the performance Roose & I had been waiting for. King Sunny Ade a living musical legend performed at Boarding House Park on Saturday night. After a long day of walking, enjoying myself, hanging out with friends and eating this was the perfect, wind down. Boisterous and exciting Sunny Ade’s performance was magical and had me dancing and moving to every beat. So glad this performer made it to the 30th Annual Lowell Folk Festival this year. Check out the live video I took of his performance here
King Sunny Ade
We were so excited!
Last stop for the day!
Getting into the music!
This was incredible, Burmese bread/chicken
Burmese Sticky Rice
My Burmese plate
What an incredibly fantastic day Saturday was and after over 17000 steps and tons of fun I realized even more why I love Lowell.
I hope you all enjoyed Saturday’s Folk Fest adventures and stay tuned for Sunday, the third and final day!
Adventure Always,
Timna
