Milford Music Festival–wall-to-wall people, music, food, and joy

The Milford Music Festival returned once again from June 19 to 22, for a weekend of live music, local food and family friendly activities for all ages.

The festival opened with a performance by The Breakers, celebrating the music of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers at the Milford Theater followed by additional performances on Catharine Street featuring such acts as the Harrisons, M80, and DJ Gina. In addition, there was a classic car show (sponsored by Milford Hospitality). There were also local vendors, face painting, food trucks and family activities.

The star of the weekend was Saturday on Milford’s Broad Street, which looked like a parking lot with so many cars. Traffic was ground to a halt. One could barely walk on the sidewalks which were filled with visitors and looked more like Times Square at noon. An estimated 3,000 to 4,000 people packed Broad Street from Harford to George Street. There were musical performances in front of almost every store on the street. And perhaps unlike Times Square, people were polite and friendly, Milford style, and there was a real sense of joy and community.

A history of bringing music to the community

The Milford Music Festival was created by Milford Presents. Laura Staine, owner of Willow (a store featuring innovative products for the home and the quizzical) on Broad street, is the current president of Milford Presents, which she says has been around for about 18 years.

“Its purpose is to inspire people to explore all Milford has to offer from its shops, eateries, and history, to the beauty of the town in its natural surroundings. Through events and relationship building, Milford Presents has grown from an event-producing group to a promotional vehicle supporting the viability of the Milford, Pa., business community,” Staine said. There are about 50 Businesses who pay to become members of this not-for-profit organization, and the Milford Music Festival has morphed into a free borough-wide sidewalk event with music, shopping, dining and fun all over town.

Catharine Street has become a Milford Hospitality playground. During the festival, food and fun activities, including a huge car show with about 500 people alone enjoyed the experience outside of Jive and in the Wellness Center parking lot.

Event brings people together from far and near

Kristin Albrecht, the brand new owner of Global Sorceress said, “The festival brought a lot of people into the store who wouldn’t ordinarily come in.” She had various singers outside the store. “I like to give a platform to people and encourage them to share their art and their creativity. It’s good to contribute to the community.” Each store owner chose the talent to play in front of their stores.

Golden Fish on Broad street has recently become split into two with Golden Gallery still featuring art and science fiction artifacts, and the other half now Golden Hammer, a tattoo parlor. Jessica (whose art name is Gutter Teeth) works there with Mitchell Ray DeGraw and in addition to wearing some of their artistic tattoos, were showing samples.

“What a wonderful weekend for our community. Listening to so many talented musicians with good friends and neighbors was really special,” Barbara McNamara (former vice president of the Black Bear Film Festival) exclaimed.

It takes a village to make something like this happen and it’s this village which is becoming a very special destination.