Harvest Music Fest 2011: Day 4 Recap & Photos

Photos by Grace Gude

The last day of a music festival is always a little bit sad. The music starts to fade as the sun sets, and it’s time to pack up the tents and go back to the real world. With a camping festival like Harvest, it’s easy to feel like part of a community or a family, especially after spending four days bonding over music together without showering.

Luckily, Sara Watkins was there to raise everyone’s spirits. The Nickel Creek fiddle player took to the Harvest Tent stage in the early evening along with a couple of supporting musicians and her cheerful demeanor. Watkins was absolutely adorable and personable as she spoke directly to the small group of fans who gathered to watch her play, most of them lazing about on blankets in the shade of the tent. It really felt more like a special, intimate show, rather than a festival performance, and it was a great note to end on.

Although Harvest was finally coming to a close after a weekend chock-full of great music, Yonder Mountain String Band was already making plans for next year’s festival. “Bigger and better,” mandolinist Jeff Austin said, describing his vision. “The cool thing for us is we shoot for the moon. Fuck it, seriously. You know? Why not? Hey, Ringo Starr, you around? You want to come by for a festival? Hey, you never know until you ask.”

“Apparently Yonder’s name counts for something these days,” said bassist Ben Kaufmann. “I didn’t know that, but it does… We came last year, and it was good. Then we showed up this year, we looked at the camping and how full it was and we went, ‘Yep, I guess it works.’"

It’s obvious that the Yonder boys feel confident about the upward direction the festival is going, as well they should be. “The thing now that’s going to happen is word is going to get around from this year,” Austin said, “and we’re going to have people coming up to us and saying, ‘Can we do this?’”

As the band is well aware, Yonder Mountain String Band’s Harvest Festival is still very young. But if it’s already been this successful and this fun to attend, it seems like it can only get better. If the band is correct in their predictions (and I think they are), this festival will be an event to look forward to for years to come.

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