Homegrown wraps up with music for tiniest fans

Little Hattie Hennessey couldn’t stop dancing.

Even when the child-focused performance of Robi Meyerson gave way to the more spiritual sounds of Hidden Roots at the last Homegrown Music Festival event in Duluth, Hattie danced.

Other children would join her near the stage and leave, but the little 2½-year-old kept it up, drawing chuckles from the audience gathered at Sacred Heart Music Center.

Meanwhile, after eight days of musical venues around the Twin Ports, festival organizers were calling this year’s festival a success.

“I’m delighted,” festival director Shana David-Massett said. “I thought it was a great festival.”

While she hadn’t compiled turnout numbers yet, she heard that everything had been packed, much more than last year.

“It’s been phenomenal,” she said. “I’ve never seen the whole town so happy. It was like Christmas all week. It was really fun.”

This year, organizers chose to end the festival with the free family-friendly event at Sacred Heart.

“I hope it catches on,” said Sarah Sawinski as she held her 4-year-old daughter and listened to the music. She had been to Homegrown events before, but this was the only one she attended this year.

“It’s nice to go to one the kids can participate in,” she said.

She especially liked the balance of music on the program, from kid-focused music to Rachael Kilgour’s folk music, which she especially came to hear.

“Her lyrics are inspiring,” Sawinski said.

The family event, which drew more than 80 people, was an attempt by organizers to add new elements, rather than just keep growing and adding new bands, David-Massett said.

“We like to come up with something a little different each year,” she said.

Kathryn Larson of Duluth liked that the event differed from the usual nightlife offerings typical of Homegrown.

“This is nice,” she said “I think it’s a great idea.”

For some, like Hattie’s family, the event being free helped draw them to the Homegrown Festival for the first time.

“It’s the first one we’ve come to, because it was free and family-focused, admitted Hattie’s mom, Carrie Hennessey of Duluth, who was there with her husband, sister, mother and stepfather.

That it was Mother’s Day was even more reason to come out together.

“We were all together anyway,” Hennessey said. “It was something in the community we could all enjoy.”

Tags: arts and entertainment, life, news, homegrown, music, family