Adam Ezra Group, Alison Brown, Joe Crookston The Mammals, Mustard’s Retreat, The Nields, Joan Osborne, Shanna in a Dress, The Slambovian Circus of Dreams, Uprooted Band, and Susan Werner are among the artists slated to appear. Also showcasing their talents will be Allison Leah, John John Brown, Ian Campbell (the festival’s artistic director), Riley Cotton, The Currys, Nick Depuy & The Big Fly, Deirdre Flint, Girl Blue, Phil Henry, Kirsten Maxwell, The Midnight Anthem, Adelaide Punkin & Something Simple, Tall Travis, Shawn Taylor, Tracy Walton, Sierra West, and more. A number of artists will also conduct workshops.

“I’m excited for this year. We feel like we are just making this space for others to bring their magic,” said Ian Campbell, who has curated the festival since its inception in 2018. “We are so excited to see how many things are growing organically in the festival … jam tents are doing so many great things … “the “art” part of the festival has a life of its own … so many things to do, and people just keep ‘bringing it’ more than the year before … It’s like we have a space where a community is being built, and it’s beautiful.”

Although still relatively small, the festival has grown each year – with new elements and layers being added to it. In addition to dozens of musical acts on several stages, hour-long Sunset Song Swaps will take place each evening, while daytime classes and workshops are also on the festival schedule. Workshops will focus on such topics as photography, busking, jamming, ukulele, songwriting, hand-drumming, stories and art, and studio pre-production, guitar maintenance and set-up. “We’ll also have a bunch of art workshops – ranging from painting, to prints and book prints, to “immortal jellyfish umbrella” making (conducted by Tink from The Slambovian Circus of Dreams), to pumpkin carving, and more,” said Campbell. Shanna in a Dress leads a songwriting workshop, while John John Brown hosts one on Stories and Art: Lessons from Strangers, and Joe Crookston leads a special print workshop. “Ace Hardware is creating a very cool lounge, and there will also be games and hula hoops and carnival acts,” Campbell added.

“What is most exciting for me is that people are taking it upon themselves to simply make this event cooler, warmer, nicer, kinder,” he said. “We are all making a beautiful community that we get to live in and enjoy, even if just for a few days.”

For his part, Walton, a multi-instrumentalist who also owns a recording studio near Goshen, told AcousticMusicScene.com last year “Black Bear has quickly become one of my favorite festivals in New England.” He performed as half of the duo Belle of the Fall during the festival’s inaugural year (2018), returned to perform a solo set, participate in a songwriters’ round, and lead a workshop last year. In addition to showcasing his own talents again this year, he looks forward to seeing performances by West and Cotton, two of the artists whom he has recorded and played with.

Festivalgoers who opt to camp at Goshen Fairgrounds can also enjoy late-night musical revelry in the campgrounds.

After coming to the Black Bear Americana Music Fest for the first time last year, Alan Rowoth will again host unplugged, late-night song circles under the Big Orange Tarp beginning after the music ends on the main stage on Friday and Saturday nights, as well as one on Thursday night preceding the annual start of the festival.
Inspired by the late-night song circles that he experienced at the Kerrville Folk Festival in the Texas Hill Country, Rowoth has sought to replicate what he calls “the incredibly intimate nature of this listening experience” at other festivals. His Big Orange Tarp has been a late-night staple at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival (which now also takes place at the Goshen Fairgrounds) and at Planet Bluegrass-sponsored festivals in Colorado.

Stuart Kabak, an upstate New York-based singer-songwriter, who has curated and hosted late-night music at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival for years, brings Pirate Camp’s large canopy tent and its esprit de corps to Black Bear for the first time this fall. The less-structured, more informal Jubilee Jam Tent also returns this year, while singer-songwriter Adelaide Punkin hosts a jam area during the festival as well.

For Tickets and More Information on the Festival

Day tickets and multi-day camping tickets for the Black Bear Americana Music Festival may be purchased online at blackbearmusicfest.com, where you will also find more information on the festival – including the complete artist lineup and schedule.

Prior to the evening concert on the park’s [Harry] Chapin Rainbow Stage, Michael Kornfeld, president of the Folk Music Society of Huntington and editor & publisher of AcousticMusicScene.com , conducts an on-stage conversational interview with the evening’s featured artists at 7:15 p.m. He also hosts a series of amplified showcases and song swaps from 2-5 p.m. near a canopy tent on the upper lawn area overlooking the stage. These will be preceded by an hour-long open mic hosted by singer-songwriter Toby Tobias, who runs the NorthShore Original Open Mic (NOOM), an Acoustic Ally of FMSH, from 12-1 p.m. and Remembering Lois Morton: A Musical Tribute from 1-2 p.m.

From 1-2 p.m, a number of artists will perform and share their reflections on Lois Morton, the late Huntington-based singer-songwriter who delighted audiences throughout the New York metropolitan area and beyond for years with her abundant charm and humorous songs of social commentary on such subjects as cell phones, clutter, diets, psychotherapy, and road rage. Participants in this tribute will include Josie Bello, Kirsten Maxwell, Larry Moser, Richard Parr, Glen Roethel, Dave Anthony Setteducati, Linda Sussman, and others. Here’s a link to a remembrance piece about Lois Morton: https://acousticmusicscene.com/2020/12/20/lois-morton-a-witty-singer-songwriter-1933-2020/.

The complete schedule for the Huntington Folk Festival appears below:

12:00 Open Mic
1:00 Remembering Lois Morton: A Musical Tribute (performances and reflections by Josie Bello, Kirsten Maxwell, Larry Moser, Richard Parr, Glen Roethel, Dave Anthony Setteducati, Linda Sussman, and others)
2:00 Song Swap: Hank Stone and Bob Westcott
2:30 Us!
2:45 Drew Velting
3:00 Christine Sweeney
3:15 Brett Altman
3:30 Allison Leah
3:45 Sea Chanteys: The Royal Yard and Alan Short
4:15 Catherine Miles & Jay Mafale
4:30 The Levins
4:45 Scott Wolfson & Other Heroes
5:00 Dinner Break
7:15 On-Stage Conversation with Paula Cole and Sophie B. Hawkins
8:00 Evening Concert on the Chapin Rainbow Stage: Paula Cole & Sophie B. Hawkins

Festivalgoers are advised to bring lawn chairs and blankets and a picnic supper (or they can walk into Huntington Village and enjoy a meal at one of its many restaurants).

Although the Huntington Folk Festival is free, attendees are asked to bring donations of nonperishable food to support Long Island Cares, Inc., the regional food bank founded by Harry Chapin. July 16 marks the 41st anniversary of the late Huntington-based singer-songwriter, social activist and humanitarian’s tragic death on the Long Island Expressway, while this year is the 50th anniversary of the release of Chapin’s breakout hit, “Taxi.”

The Huntington Summer Arts Festival is produced by the Town of Huntington and presented by the Huntington Arts Council. Additional support is provided by Presenting Sponsor Canon U.S.A., with partial funding from the New York State Council on the Arts and the Suffolk County Department of Economic Development and Planning.