Beacon's largest parade, the Spirit of Beacon Day, this year will have a major free concert for music lovers which kicks off a new arts project and destination.

The Spirit of Beacon Day Parade, this year on Sunday, September 27, 2015, is traditionally one of the biggest parade celebrations in Beacon, with floats of kids, parents and teachers from the school district driving down Main Street, followed by marching bands, fire engines, flying candy, even local dentists like Beacon Dental who have marched down handing out tooth brushes. After the parade, which usually is on a sparkler of a day with bright sunshine, and crisp, early Fall air softly swooping through the town at the base of Mount Beacon, the people of Beacon get to enjoy visiting tables of businesses, indulging in a little facepaint as a fundraiser of a local church or Beacon girls softball team, getting hypnotized by drum circles, and even watching dancers from many different nationalities like this one from Arts Mid-Hudson after last year's parade.

Missing from the day will be a live performance from Pete Seeger, who usually performed with members of his band in the middle of Main Street for all to hear. This year, however, a special live free concert will be taking place at the Veterans Place near the Post Office at 3pm - featuring major folk musicians from the area including Tom Chapin, Dar Williams, Bruce Molsky, Susan Wright and Slam Allen. The concert is part of an announcement of a new arts project: The American Center for Folk Music (ACFM).

The center is targeted to be located in Beacon and its primary mission is said to be "the presentation, celebration and study of folk music, and the ongoing support of folk musicians and music educators," according to a press release sent out by the Towne Crier, a 40-year old live music venue that relocated to Beacon and is now a central part of the City's burgeoning music scene. The Towne Crier's founder, Phil Ciganer, is providing logistical assistance with the project.

The American Center for Folk Music's co-founder David Ross, a former director of the Whitney Museum of American Art as well as an art educator and musician, has this to say about Sunday's free concert and about the foundation of the new center: “Folk music’s extraordinary heritage is something we feel needs to be taken seriously, and celebrated," said Ross. "For those of us in Beacon and in this region, it is a way of preserving the memory and continuing the work of Pete Seeger, the great American musician who is a hero to all of us who believed that music has the power to change the world for the better.”

Says Ross, "The American Center for Folk Music wants to be an integral part of the local community as well as a national destination for musicians, tourists and scholars alike."  Seems like a good idea to plant the seed on Spirit of Beacon Day, as hopefully one more rich addition to the culture that is once again taking shape in Beacon's long history of giving back and educating.