Spring Fling

Kellish Hill Farm hosts a two-day fundraiser with a lot of performing friends

Spring is a special season down on the farm: a time for planting in hopes that the coming season will be blessed with the right balance of rain and sunshine to produce healthy plants and eventually a bountiful harvest. Organizers at Kellish Hill Farm, 3192 Pompey Center Road, Pompey, are brimming with enthusiasm in anticipation of the first annual American Music Festival at Kellish Hill Farm, slated for July 22 through 24, filling the countryside with music and homegrown revelry. But first they need to raise seed money.

That’s why dozens of friends of the farm are joining with its hosts Kathy Kellish and Rick Harding to pool their formidable talents and barn-raising spirit for a two-day fundraising event dubbed “Rise to the Occasion,” which hits two stages at the picturesque plantation on Friday, May 6, and Saturday, May 7. Such notable acts as songwriter, teacher and journalist Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers, bluegrass composer and Lost Boys bandleader John Cadley, touring artist Charley Orlando, veteran fiddle master Henry Jankiewicz and Skaneateles tunesmith Dusty Pas’cal will be on hand.

Half of the action will take place in the flea market-chic music barn, while the rest will launch from an outdoor stage. “We’ve got 28 acts that are playing between Friday and Saturday,” says the enthusiastic Kellish. “Most of these people—99 percent of these people—came to me. Once I promoted it on Facebook, I couldn’t believe the response. Within a matter of a couple of days the slots were all filled. Then more people were saying ‘Can you make room for us?’ So we’re doing the second stage out in our park-like setting near the gazebo under a tent on a flatbed trailer and we’ll have another PA {public address system} out there. It’s wonderful how many of the people who have come here and played want to come here and support us and what we’re doing.”

Performers who relish the hospitality and camaraderie they find every week at the farm’s Thursday-night open mikes and Sunday-afternoon jam sessions have rallied around their musical homestead, where the summer season promises a harvest of quality music on the bucolic hillside. “I’m playing a set,” says singer-songwriter Greg Hoover, who often serves as host for the open mikes. “I may also be helping out with logistics, seating or tickets. Kathy will be assigning me a certain job. There are a number of dedicated volunteers because of the friendly surroundings and tremendous generosity. It’s a welcoming and special place for musicians and visitors.”

Inclement weather would press into service the back deck on the lodge, which overlooks a gorgeous view of hill and valley all the way to the Fenner wind farm. Flocks of migratory birds provide the background music from perches among fresh greenery in thousands of trees while acres of gently sloping fields hold the promise of even bigger festivals as the venue fulfills its potential.

“I think it’s going to grow,” Hoover projects. “Kathy has reached across to many groups with the {Iroquois} drum circles, folk, country, rock, autoharp and fiddle events. Sunday jams are very busy, very active and the better-known acts that have played there have filled the place to overflowing.”

Among the acts that have played to large crowds is the pairing of Elbridge native Loren Barrigar and New Zealander Mark Mazengarb, who have been booked for the July event. Both are award-winning recording artists and guitar virtuosos with resumes that include the prestigious Chet Atkins Appreciation Society convention in Nashville. “We’ve got our headliners,” Kellish raves. “The other acts will be coming.”

And other acts will keep coming as the reputation and legend of Kellish Hill Farm grows. In addition to the weekly events, they continue to book performances by local, regional and national acts for the upcoming season. Shows already scheduled in the weeks after the July festival include a unique evening combining musical stars on stage with those in the heavens for an astronomy festival on July 30, a performance by Nashville-based multi-instrumentalist Linda McRae on Sept. 10 and a gospel festival on Sept. 17.

The farm’s staunch supporters relish its limitless promise as they cultivate its future. “I’m in one of the small groups that meets as an informal steering committee with projections to get more formal,” Hoover points out.

“In the current climate, grants and government funding aren’t happening, so it’s up to us to come up with funding through our mutual efforts. We should applaud ourselves that in these times we’re able to find a way to make it happen.”

Making it happen starts this weekend.

Among the scheduled acts and surprise guests playing from 6 p.m. to midnight on Friday will be Folkstrings, Irish Sessions Players, Salt City Ramblers, Colleen Kattau, Larry Hoyt, Mark Sostrin and Jean Daily. On Saturday from 10 a.m. to midnight will be Dusty Pas’cal, Charley Orlando, John Cadley, Cathy Wenthen, John Wolford, Greg Hoover, Patty and Henry Jankiewicz, John Price, Diamond Someday, Jeffrey Peppers Rogers, Wendy Ramsay, Pond Creek Bog Stompers, Jeff and Judy Stanton, Eileen Rose, Dana Cooke, Humble Bones, Salt Potatoes, Tumbleweed Gumbo, Kevin Roe, John and Sondra Bromka, Tug Hill Symphony, Bill Ring and Ironwood, Mark Matthews and Kathy Kellish, Tom Gafrancesco, Mark Sostrin and the All Purpose String Band, plus a pot luck supper starting at 6 p.m.

Admission charge is $10 each day. The easiest route to Kellish from Syracuse and points west is to take Route 92 out of the village of Manlius and turn right onto Pompey Center Road. The bright yellow wheels on the left, 4.2 miles down the road, show the way to the Kellish parking lot. From the south, it’s a half-mile north of Route 20. For more information, call 682-1578.

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Music central: Inside Kellish Hill Farm, which this weekend will host many area musicians such as Colleen Kattau, shown here during the April 22 protest of military Drones at Hancock Air Base.