Some music festivals need enormous stages, giant video screens, corporate sponsors, and acres of parking lots.
FarmFest has two hay wagons.
And somehow, that tells you almost everything you need to know about this weekend at Highland Homestead in Pawcatuck.
Now in its fifth year, FarmFest returns Saturday and Sunday, August 15–16, for two days of Connecticut music, food, vendors, raffles, and family activities on a working farm at the end of Pawcatuck Avenue.
It started as a small DIY music festival in 2022 and has grown considerably since then. But instead of moving to a conventional venue as the crowds grew, organizers kept it on the farm.
Good decision.
Because a stage built from two hay wagons overlooking a farm pond is a lot more interesting than another black platform surrounded by barricades.
Come for the Music
Music is the heart of FarmFest, and the festival puts its attention where few larger festivals do: on Connecticut’s own music scene.
Saturday is the big day, with bands playing from noon until 10 p.m. The lineup moves through indie rock, alternative, folk, Americana, grunge, progressive rock, and straight-ahead rock & roll.
Saturday’s lineup includes:
- The Tines, a New Haven indie rock band blending folk and Americana with guitar and vocal harmonies
- Low Ceilings, bringing folky alternative rock, progressive influences, and clever songwriting
- LostSol, a five-piece eastern Connecticut band with a heavier sound influenced by grunge and alternative rock
- Greenholt, delivering catchy, riff-driven indie rock with plenty of energy
- Modern Refuge, mixing indie, folk, progressive rock, and the classic sounds of the ’70s
- Queen Moo, a Hartford trio whose adventurous rock pulls influences from folk, jazz, and plenty of places in between
If you’ve been looking for an excuse to discover some Connecticut bands rather than listening to the same playlist again, Saturday gives you about ten hours to do it.
Sunday Slows Things Down
Sunday has a different feel.
Music runs from noon until 5 p.m., with a smaller lineup and a more relaxed way to finish the weekend.
Connor Yakaitis of Primo brings acoustic music shaped by folk and jam-band influences, with songwriting centered around love, life, humanity, and growing up in New England.
Danger Jacobson, the project of North Stonington native CJ Errichetti, blends folk songwriting with blues and rock influences and a more personal, philosophical lyrical style.
If Saturday is the party, Sunday feels more like hanging around the farm with some good music before admitting that Monday is coming.
It’s Not Just a Concert
One of the reasons FarmFest works as a full-day outing is that you’re not expected to stand in front of the stage for ten straight hours.
Saturday also brings food, vendors, raffles, and activities for all ages.
Wander around. Get something to eat. Check out the vendors. Sit by the pond. Listen to a band you’ve never heard before. Then wander back when the next one starts.
The festival is designed to be family friendly, with no age restrictions listed.
That’s another difference between FarmFest and many of the club shows where you’ll normally find emerging local bands. Parents don’t have to choose between hearing live music and bringing the kids along.
Five Years and Still Homemade
FarmFest began in 2022 when Sinooka Productions created a grassroots music festival at Highland Homestead, the Main family farm in Pawcatuck.
As the festival grew, volunteers continued doing much of the work themselves.
They help park cars. They handle admissions. Local vendors participate. Local musicians take the stage.
There’s something appealing about that.
FarmFest hasn’t tried to polish away the thing that made it interesting in the first place. It’s still a community putting on a music festival on a farm.
The crowds have gotten bigger.
The weekend has gotten longer.
The hay wagons stayed.
Your Ticket Does More Than Get You Through the Gate
There’s another reason this little festival deserves attention.
FarmFest raises money for charity.
Over the previous two years, organizers say the event generated more than $8,000 for the PACS2 Research Foundation and Boston University’s Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine Amyloidosis Center.
This year, all FarmFest proceeds benefit the Chikumbuso Women & Orphans Project in Zambia.
And the story behind that organization is remarkable.
Chikumbuso began in 2005 with seven women gathering inside a one-room church in Ng’ombe, Zambia. The organization eventually purchased a former bar and brothel and transformed it into a community center and school.
Today, Chikumbuso operates a K–7 school, provides scholarships that allow students to continue through high school and college, offers vocational training and small-business programs, and operates a 12-bed Safe Haven for girls who can’t safely remain in their homes.
Its vocational program alone has trained more than 300 young people in tailoring and small-business skills.
So the money from a weekend music festival on a farm in Pawcatuck ends up helping women and children more than 7,000 miles away.
That’s a pretty good encore.
Saturday or Sunday?
If you’re trying to decide which day to attend, they’re different enough that the answer depends on what you’re looking for.
Saturday is for the music fan.
Doors open at 11 a.m., with music running from noon until 10 p.m. You’ll get the larger lineup along with food, vendors, raffles, and family activities.
Sunday is the laid-back version.
Doors again open at 11 a.m., with music running from noon until 5 p.m. and a smaller acoustic-leaning lineup.
Of course, there’s always Option C.
Go both days.
Don’t Expect a Traditional Concert Venue
Highland Homestead is a working farm, not an amphitheater.
That’s part of the appeal, but it also means I’d plan accordingly.
Give yourself a little extra time to arrive, park, and get settled. Dress for spending several hours outdoors. And don’t show up expecting assigned seats, velvet ropes, or somebody directing you toward Section 112.
You’re going to a music festival on a farm.
Embrace it.
Sometimes Smaller Is Better
There are plenty of enormous concerts happening around southern New England this summer. We’ve written about many of them.
FarmFest isn’t trying to compete with those.
And it shouldn’t.
There’s something refreshing about discovering a Connecticut band while sitting outside on a summer afternoon, knowing the musicians may have driven 40 minutes to get there instead of flying across the country.
No giant stage required.
Just a farm, a pond, a bunch of local musicians, some volunteers, and two hay wagons waiting for somebody to plug in an amplifier.
Sometimes that’s more than enough.
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