Grand Point North Music Festival Wrap-Up

Article Contributed by Callanan and K… | Published on Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Near capacity crowds flocked to Waterfront Park in Burlington, Vermont on September 13th and 14th for the 4th annual Grand Point North Music Festival presented by Grace Potter & The Nocturnals. Grand Point North Festival featured two full days of continuous music on side-by-side stages along with Grand Point Local, a celebration of local restaurants and food purveyors, and Grand Point Weird,  the artistic component to the festival curated by Charlotte Potter.

Saturday, September 13 bands included Dwight & Nicole, Villanelles, Swale, Caroline Rose, Rayland Baxter, Lucius, The War on Drugs, Lake Street Dive and Grace Potter & The Nocturnals. Highlights of Grace Potter & The Nocturnals set included Rayland Baxter joining Grace for Elton John’s Rocket Man. Grace and the band brought all the performers on stage for a finale  performing “With a Little Help From My Friends.”

Sunday, September 14 bands included The High Breaks, Gold Town, Anders Parker & Cloud Badge, Lowell Thompson, Debo Band,  Dr. John & The Nite Trippers, The Devil Makes Three, Trampled by Turtles and Grace Potter & The Nocturnals. Grace and the band brought all the performs on stage for a finale performing Sly & The Family Stone’s "I Want To Take You Higher."

Grand Point Weird: Grand Point Weird, the artistic sister to Grand Point North curated by Charlotte Potter with Brett Day Windam and Hannah Kirkpatrick,  returned to the festival this year. This year’s Grand Point Weird was a watery homage to the inner tube in all its visual and cultural permutations. Sound intriguing? Attendee’s visited the ‘Tent of Weird’ and became immersed in an underwater artwork.  And it was inner tubes everywhere throughout Waterfront Park. These artistic endeavors were the perfect complement to Burlington’s favorite festival.

Grand Point Local:  For the third year in a row, Grand Point North offered Grand Point Local, a collection of local restaurants and local food products for sale, curated by The Skinny Pancake. Grand Point local was created to celebrate local food by highlighting some of Vermont’s best purveyors including Bluebird BBQ, Southern Smoke, Open Hearth Pizza, Pingala Café, Duino Duende, Lazy Farmer, The Hind Quarter, Vermont Kettle Korn, Brio Coffee Works, SOYO, Queen City Pops and Shaker Maple Farm..