Thousands danced, laughed and splashed through the mud as the Finger Lakes GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance returned for its 34th year, featuring over 80 artists and four different stages this weekend.
Despite lingering Canadian wildfire smoke, a severe thunderstorm watch and a rainstorm that accumulated two and a half inches of water in two hours, the Trumansburg Fairgrounds was filled with color and camaraderie as over 12,000 festivalgoers donned their best outfits and enjoyed the tunes for the yearly tradition.
Outside of the storms, the festival’s four stages were abuzz with a variety of music — from hip-hop, to country, to everything in between. Local and international artists, including GRAMMY award winners like Rhiannon Giddens and Taj Mahal, as well as other notable bands like The Aba Diop Trio, Maddy Walsh and the Blind Spots and Dirty Blanket, performed from 9 a.m. to as late as 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.
Russ Friedel, festival co-director, explained to The Sun that he helped coordinate an emergency response when initial reports of 70+ mile per hour winds and a tornado warning emerged on Friday, although the coordinators had been preparing earlier in the week.
“It was all that we talked and thought about from Wednesday [until] Saturday,” he said.
On Saturday, organizers were busy taking down tents to prepare for the storm, until festivalgoers were instructed to seek permanent shelter from approximately 5 to 6 p.m. Once the rain passed, a slip and slide was set up and the people returned to the party in the mud.
The festival also offered free N95 masks at the Emergency Medical Services tent in response to Canadian wildfire smoke, which lingered until the rainstorm on Saturday.
There were over 20 craft booths present, with handmade jewelry, clothes, face paint and more, alongside over 20 food vendors serving various types of food.
The festival was entirely family-friendly, with kids playing at every corner. Kids and adults danced alongside each other at each stage, and the festival set up a “Kids Tent” on the venue for children to have their own space.
Ithaca-natives Josh and Shanna Swartwood, who have been attending the festival for over 15 years — ever since their two daughters Naomi and Phoebe, now an adult and 14-years-old, were in strollers — appreciated the family-friendly atmosphere.
They added that the grassy area outside the large Infield Stage, which contained hula hoops, kites, bubbles, toys and tons of kids running around, had always made for a “safe and welcoming” environment with young children.
Josh also called the festival “multi-generational,” adding that he observed people of all ages enjoying all different types of music.
“I feel like there's just a lot less judgment,” Josh said. “You can dance how you want, and there's not a performative aspect to it. So you can really engage and enjoy the music and enjoy yourself.”
Many festivalgoers had been attending the festival for years prior, making it a tradition to return.
Kim Conrad and Grace Cantrell, who have been attending GrassRoots for approximately 20 years, noted that more young people — especially within the ages of 18 to 24 — have been attending the festival in recent years. They said that the voter registration booths present at the venue could be “a result” of the influx of young people attending the festival.
The festival has been a great place for Cantrell to connect over music, she said.
“There’s people I see only every year at GrassRoots,” Cantrell said.
Celeste Withiam, who has been attending the festival for her whole life, went with her fiance of one week, Devin Daeschel Ph.D. ’24. This year marked Daeschel’s second GrassRoots experience.
The couple appreciated the festival’s unique environment, including the nighttime lights, and commented on the positive experiences they have had with other festivalgoers.
“It just feels like a magical little forest of good vibes,” Daeschel said.
Withiam agreed, adding that, “It's like its own weird little city where there's different economies and ecosystems and just people doing their own weird stuff. And everyone is so nice and good to each other.”
GrassRoots has stayed a constant experience for Withiam, she said. Withiam added that GrassRoots could “probably pull some big names,” but Daeschel said that if they did, it “would change the vibe.” They both explained that the purpose of GrassRoots was not to bring in large, mainstream artists, and noted Driftwood, Cast Iron Cowboys and The Byrne Brothers as some of their favorite acts.
The festival held its Happiness Parade at 2 p.m. on Sunday, capping off a long weekend of dance and human connection. In the parade, people lined up in costumes and stilts toting art, handmade signs, bubbles and other accessories. As they marched around the venue, participants in the parade sang, danced and had a continuous beat keeping it moving courtesy of the Fall Creek Brass Band.
“It's like radical humanism,” said Jah Lewis, a second-time GrassRoots attendee, while describing his experiences meeting people over the weekend.
Lewis also told The Sun that the canopy of his and his friends’ tent came off on Saturday night due to the weather, but they “thugged it out” and continued to enjoy the festival.
Friedel thanked the Trumansburg EMS, Bangs Ambulance, the Tompkins County Sheriffs, the Trumansburg Fire Department, the Trumansburg Police Department, the Tompkins County Department of Emergency Response, the Tompkins County Health Department and the National Weather Service station in Binghamton for their coordination in preparation for the weather. He also thanked the attendees for heeding to the organizer’s warnings and taking shelter, noting that they seemed “well informed,” and “knew where to go.”
Despite lower ticket sales on Saturday which Russ believed was due to the weather, he called it a “beautiful, classic GrassRoots weekend,” and called the turnaround after the storm “pretty incredible.”
On his arm, Lewis held many beaded necklaces, which he gave away to strangers. He commented on the “raw connection” he experienced with the people around him while walking through the festival.
“[Outside of the festival,] everybody wants to just walk past each other, and it's hard to say ‘Hello’ for some reason,” Lewis said. “Here, it's easy.”
Everett Chambala is an assistant news editor for the 144th board. He is working as the primary summer reporter for The Cornell Daily Sun through The Sun’s summer fellowship program.
Everett Chambala is a member of the Class of 2027 in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations. He is an assistant news editor for the 144th Editorial Board and can be reached at echambala@cornellsun.com.
