Co-Organizer Tim Parsaca sets up the bonfire area at Veterans Place, in preparation for the live music and performances playing there on Saturday, November 5, 2022.
*Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth*

Warm November wind swirled crunchy leaves between parked cars on Main Street as the sun came out through the morning fog once again in Beacon, NY, creating the perfect Saturday scene for the first Beacon Bonfire Festival. Starting Friday and erupting Saturday (November 4 and 5) is a schedule of 100 live performers and artists in 14 venues and galleries.

All of Main Street was open, while Veterans Place (side street between Post Office and Towne Crier and across from Masjid Ar-Rashid Islamic Teaching Center) was closed so that people could enjoy dancing, sitting in patio couches around a fire pit, and watching performances. The casual setting, however, made it feel like Main Street was closed as people slowed down to walk, watch and listen.

This big concept idea is being described as an “immersive music and arts exploration” by its organizers, who include a collection of performers, including Kelly Ellenwood, who is behind some of Beacon’s longest lasting initiatives, including Wee Play, the Beacon Free Loop, and busy time served for BeaconArts.

An aerialist performs during the first Beacon Bonfire as the first band at the Veterans Place stage starts.
*Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth*

Starting from the embers of bonfires made during the height of the COVID pandemic, when everyone was separated and could not gather indoors, a group of Beaconites gathered outside around a bonfire in locations that were sometimes not announced until the day of the bonfire. Co-organizers Christian and America Olivo Campbell told the Highlands Current that they started the bonfires as a way to make it through the pandemic. The first one had 20 people, and it grew from there as more dates were put into the calendar spread via group texts. Jeremy Schonfeld came on board to organize the music from his connections in the Beacon music scene, and Kelly’s husband Tim Parsaca, who worked for Madison Square Garden for decades building or “unbuilding” sets, as Christian puts it.

Venues Participating In The Beacon Bonfire

Venues for this festival include the main stage at Veterans Place, which has patio couches set up around fire pits, Reserva Wine Bar, Bank Square, Lotus Works Gallery, Dennings Point Distillery, Quinn’s, Found Space 364, B House, Towne Crier, the Beacon Building, Silica Studio, Masonic Lodge, KuBe Art Center (aka The Old Beacon High School), Howland Cultural Center, Maria Lago Studio, and Dogwood.

Performers Performing During The Beacon Bonfire

Beaconites will recognize several names, and see a few new ones including of the spoken word. Lena Rizkallah who ALBB’s sister company Tin Shingle has written about and is normally associated with financial advice and education, will be storytelling with Bridget O’Neill’s group at the Masonic Lodge. You can find Nina Day and Friends, the Wynotte Sisters, the Whispering Tree, Toybox with Rinde Eckert and Friends, The Costellos, Tara O’Grady, Stephen Clair Band, Spilled Milk, and many others.

Find the full schedule and map here.

“Wait, What Is That?” Podcast Interviews

Brandon Lillard and Katie Hellmuth were able to interview two of the performers before the Saturday got rolling: The Costellos and Beacon Performing Arts Center. The Costellos shared two songs with the podcast, that was live streamed on A Little Beacon Blog’s Instagram. The first song gave serious beach vibes, and the second was a dreamy love note between the two, written during a seven week stint that they were away from each other.

Listen to the full interview at Wait What Is That? when it gets published next week.