Warren Folks Festival brings local community together

By ROB DUGUAY
Posted 8/16/22

Across Narragansett Bay in the little town of Warren, there’s a unique creative nucleus. This intriguing ambience within this relatively small place has sparked a lot of interesting things. …

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Warren Folks Festival brings local community together

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Across Narragansett Bay in the little town of Warren, there’s a unique creative nucleus. This intriguing ambience within this relatively small place has sparked a lot of interesting things. There’s a great restaurant community with establishments like The Square Peg, Amaral’s Fish & Chips, The Revival Craft Kitchen & Bar and Chomp Kitchen & Drinks serving up culinary delights. In Your Ear Records is a prime spot to pick up vinyl & CDs, there’s 75orLess Records being the premiere record label in Rhode Island working with a wide variety of bands & musicians and there’s the Galactic Theatre having live music grace their stage on a regular basis. There are numerous consignment shops and art galleries as well with The Collaborative being a great example of the latter along with being an arts nonprofit. In celebration of this town’s artistic vibe, the sixth annual Warren Folks Festival will be bringing people from all over The Ocean State and beyond to 30 Cutler Street on Aug. 20.

The festival is a free all-day event that serves as a fundraiser for The Collaborative, who is also presenting the entire event. There will be live music, food, art and vendors while encompassing a fun and engaging atmosphere.

“Folks Fest is The Collaborative’s biggest fundraiser,” says The Collaborative’s Executive Director and Founder, Uriah Donnelly. “The funds raised help us operate throughout the rest of the year, so it’s important to our organization but mostly it’s an excuse to throw a big party with all our friends who do cool things.”

Over 40 local artists and makers will have gifts, goods and crafted objects for sale. Chomp will be one of the many restaurants having food available for purchase along with Balasco’s Pizzeria, Hunky Dory, Bywater Restaurant, Chelsea’s Creamery, Dip’s Dips, Basil & Bunny, Farm to Sandwich, Lumpia Bros, Mooseman’s Kettle Corn and Rhody Roots. Narragansett Beer is curating the beer garden with 100% of the sales of brews from it going directly to The Collaborative. Along with beer there will be libations from Anchor & Hope wine, Cannon & Anchor hard seltzer, Cruisin’ Cocktails and nonalcoholic beverages from Granny Squibb’s Organic Iced Tea and Kristie’s Kraft Mocktails.

“This is huge,” Donnelly exclaims. “The partnership we have created with Narragansett is very important to us. They are incredibly generous and have been big supporters of The Collaborative for a long time. We couldn’t do this without them.”

Rounding out the lineup for live music on the main stage consists of local gothic folk entity Vudu Sister, soul-prog dynamos Bochek, hip hop artist Joe Bruce who’ll be with some friends of his and folk act Honeysuckle Hill as well as Brooklyn singer-songwriter Mary-Elaine Jenkins and spoken word poet Ernest Edwards. Simultaneously there will be a second stage featuring singer-songwriters Anthony Loffredio and Rafay Rashid, who grew up in Warwick, and indie rock acts Beauquet and American Echoes.

“I’ve been going to the festival ever since it started so I’m glad to be a part of it,” Loffredio says about the Folks Fest. “I’ll get to play in front of people who would not normally hear my music.

Warren is a unique town and the Folks Fest only helps to add to that uniqueness. There’s a lot of different kinds of music on the main stage, so I feel like there’s something for everyone.”

“We’re freaking psyched!” Ava Callery, who is the vocalist and guitarist for Beauquet, adds. “We are excited to represent the East Bay, especially with our drummer Joe Krapf and I being Bristol natives. I’m excited to play alongside our friends like Rafay Rashid and Bochek will put on a great set too. Great music, great local art, and great hangs will be pursued!”

While the event is free and open to everyone, donations to The Collaborative at the entrance are encouraged. For all the information and more about this year’s Warren Folks Festival, either email The Collaborative at info@thecollaborative02885.org or log onto their website at thecollaborative02885.org.

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