Backwoods Pondfest

Music fest in Peru resumes after four years of silence

Story by Tats Kasama

Drinking and dancing with good music in the great outdoors is one of the best activities in summer. In the North Country, Backwoods Pondfest - held at Twin Ponds Resort Campsite in Peru, New York, on September 7 and 8 - might have been the last chance to enjoy the opportunity before arrival of cold fall and winter months.

Though the first week of September this year was a bit chilly, the weather gods seemed to celebrate the resumption of the music fest, which had not been held for four years. The fest started in 1995 and was held annually until 2002, according to Sandy Bazzano, the owner of the campsite and former fest organizer. "She stopped doing it because she got tired of doing it," according to her daughter Katie. Katie and her sister Liz, however, resumed the fest this year.

Upon entering the campsite, I was surprised to see a sparse audience around the stage despite the fact that local newspaper The Press Republican had placed a feature article about the fest in the paper a day earlier, and many ads had been placed around Plattsburgh. I was worried the event would not be popular, but my concern disappeared when many more people arrived at nightfall.

Green woods surround the campsite which has a pond at the center. The stage, about twenty feet wide, is beneath a big tent roof, and next to it is a yellow school bus that was used for a backstage. Some people who got hot, including myself, wanted to jump into the pond, but nobody did because the organizers announced that leeches, as well as turtles, live there. In addition to many campers’ tents, a few tents were set up to sell hot dogs. Unfortunately, beer wasn't offered for sale at the campsite, which made me wish I had brought beer instead of whiskey.

Sipping whiskey, I saw some local bands: Slow Natives, Mike Pedersen Band, and Shameless Strangers on the first day, and School Bus Yellow and Lucid on the second day. All of them seemed to truly enjoy playing music. I felt their love for the music. Katie Bazzano said she also thought that. "They seem to be more about the music than they are about the fame. That hit my heart a lot this weekend."

The highlight of the whole two-day fest was Lucid, which showed up on the stage around 1:30 a.m. They play mostly their original blues-based rock tunes. Sometimes they effectively take some parts from classic masterpieces, but they do it their own way. Despite the fact that they were the last band to play, their performance was more energetic than any earlier bands.

Like many other musicians in the region - an area that is home to well-known jam band Phish - their jam performance is never exactly the same. Among many of their shows I have attended, this performance was one of the most exciting. The audience had already been warmed up enough by the earlier bands, and then Lucid heated the audience. They rocked the audience hard. The audience responded. They rocked harder. They played music freely depending on what the audience wanted - and what the audience wanted seemed to be more heat and craze. Their music made me want to shout, “Keep going, never stop whatever happens!” With the audience going crazy, dancing madly and kissing each other — the fest reached its climax.

After the fest, Katie's husky voice showed both exhaustion and satisfaction. “I am kind of relieved that we made it through our first year doing it,” Katie said, refering to herself and her sister, Liz. “Definitely, we will be holding it again next year with a few minor changes.” Katie explained she plans to set another stage and invite some bigger bands. No matter what minor changes next year will bring, I am sure it is going to be an amazing event.

The accessibility of the campsite might be a shortcoming. In the backwoods of Peru, the campsite is hard to find. With better accessibility, more people are likely to come. After all, the audience is one of the important elements to cheer up events. An audience of seven hundred and sixty people for a 26-hour event is not many.

Because of this accessibility, however, my experience at Pondfest made me happy. I had to thumb a ride back to Plattsburgh in the darkness of 4 a.m. After several cars passed me by, one car stopped, and the driver picked me up. The driver was the guy who had played the blues harp with Lucid as a guest musician - George Wurster, the father of the percussionist Lowell. I appreciated the kindness of a guy who has enjoyed playing music locally for decades. Could I have taken a ride with a stranger if it had been on another occasion? Perhaps musicians have a special kindness for those with the same interest - the love of music.

Which music fests have you attended in the North Country?