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A new music festival grows at home

The disc jockeys at a Warren County-based Internet radio station had often talked about hosting a festival for local musicians, but it never came to pass. The annual Knowlton RiverFest on the Delaware was the local festival. The three-day event attracted up to 10,000 people and had a loyal following. But all that changed this year when Rick Clarkson, the director of the festival on the river, decided to take this summer off and canceled RiverFest 2006 due to a lack of volunteers. In some ways, RiverFest, which started in 1995, had become a victim of its own success. "After 11 years, we were getting tired. We never wanted to give up, but RiverFest is not the same today as it was when we started," said Clarkson, of Knowlton, adding that the show had become a "large production" for him and his core group of 12 to 15 volunteers. "There wasn't a month during the year that we weren't working on it," said Clarkson, whose wife, Eleanor, is also a RiverFest organizer along with George Trongone of Columbia.

HomeGrownRadio is stepping in and will host its first music festival, the HomeGrown Wine & Music Fest, on Aug. 19. It will run from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Four Sisters Winery on Route 519 in White Township, rain or shine. The HomeGrownRadio festival will feature a variety of music -- including rock, jazz, folk, British pop and children's music -- and will be held the same weekend RiverFest would have taken place. Before being canceled, RiverFest had grown to become one of the top tourism events in the county, said Art Charlton, director of the Warren County Public Information and Tourism Department.

For the DJs at HomeGrownRadio, the cancellation of RiverFest was a chance for them to fill a void in the local music scene. We had been talking about it for a long time," said Kath Cameron, a DJ who handles publicity for HomeGrownRadio. "I'm very psyched about it." HomeGrownRadio actually got its start, at least conceptually, at the Knowlton RiverFest, where a group of "disenfranchised radio listeners," including founder and station manager Todd Mills of Jefferson, talked about starting their own Internet radio station, Cameron said.

HomeGrownRadio, which can be found on the Web at www.homegrownradionj.com, opened in cyberspace on Mischief Night, Oct. 30, 2004, and has grown to its present roster of about 50 volunteer DJs. The listener-supported station, which plays a blend of rock, jazz, folk, funk and children's music, is based in a small office on Route 94 in the Marksboro section of Frelinghuysen.

"When we heard Knowlton RiverFest was taking a one-year sabbatical, we knew it was time to give something back for all that the folks at Knowlton RiverFest have done for the music and festival scene," Cameron said. She lives in the Crandon Lakes section of Hampton Township, Sussex County, with her husband, John, another DJ at HomeGrownRadio, and their daughter, 6-year-old Marley. "We planted the seed at RiverFest," she said. "We're so thankful to them. ... I'm pretty sure I've been to every one of them."

Advance tickets for the HomeGrown Wine & Music Fest are $15 and available on the radio station's Web site or by visiting the winery's tasting room, which is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. seven days a week. Day-of-show tickets are $20. The festival will feature wine tastings, tours, children's activities and home-cooked food, along with wine and beer. Global Reach International, a Branchville-based nonprofit group, will run the beer concession with the proceeds donated to helping orphans in Nepal. Organizers are expecting about 500 to 1,000 attendees.

The event includes performances by the John Ginty Band, Todd Sheaffer of Railroad Earth, singer/songwriter Brett Mitchell, Locksley, Stone Poets, Daria, Marifanyi, the folk duo Folk By Association, and White Light. While this year's festival will be HomeGrownRadio's first, Cameron said she doesn't expect it will be the station's last. "We have tons and tons of things in the works," she said. Clarkson said he appreciated that HomeGrownRadio has filled the music void. "It's really nice, a nice compliment," Clarkson said. And will there be a RiverFest next summer? "Looks like, yes, there'll be one next year," he said

Upstage Magazine, August 2006

(BELVIDERE, NJ) -- HomeGrownRadioNJ and Four Sisters Winery will be hosting the first "HomeGrown Wine & Music Fest" Saturday August 19th from 11 am till 9pm. The family friendly festival offers music for lovers of rock, jazz, jams, folk, brit pop, world beat and music for kids too.

The line up for the all day event includes the jamming John Ginty Band, Todd Sheaffer of Railroad Earth, singer songwriter Brett Mitchell, Brit popsters Locksley, kids music by Stomp ambassador Daria, world percussion by Marifanyi, jazz fusion from Peter Biedermann and more surprise guests possible.

HomeGrownRadioNJ is a Blairstown based internet radio station with over 50 volunteer deejays spinning their own blends of music, commentary and comedy broadcast via the world wide web. Since the station is run and operated by music lovers, having their own festival has been one of the station's goals since day one. "Station manager Todd Mills, first proposed the idea for starting the radio station at Knowlton River Fest, so we literally grew out of the music festival scene" according to Kath Cameron, PR Director for HomeGrown. "Collectively our djs have been to hundreds of festivals, and when we heard Knowlton Riverfest was taking a one year sabbatical, we knew it was time to give something back for all that the folks at Knowlton Riverfest have done for the music and festival scene".

Four Sisters Winery on Route 519 north of Belvidere, will be the site of the event featuring wine tastings, tours, kids activities, vendors and lots of home cooked food along with wine and beer. Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 on the day of the show and kids under 12 are free. Some of the proceeds will go to support Global Reach International, a non profit organization dedicated to helping orphans in Nepal. For more info on Four Sisters Winery go to www.matarazzo.com.

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