Dear Editor,

I would like to thank Kristen McFarland, Daniel Laramie, Marc Latiolais, Rob Savoye, Jeffrey Swift, and all our beautiful volunteers for an amazing NedFest Family Reunion 2023! It was a great new venue at the Caribou Room, filling the field with carefully selected vendors to yummy food trucks, who sold out before end of day Saturday. We held an amazing, onetime only auction of 21 Years of NedFest memorabilia, including the NedFest RV!

And, whoa, the music was off the charts! Saturday nights Super Group of NedFest Family royalty knocked it outta the park with everyone dancing, singing, and swaying to the amazing magical music of Dave Watts, Scott Messersmith, Kyle Hollingsworth, Jennifer Hartswick, Robert Mercurio, Adam Smirnoff, Dominic Lalli’s, and 7-time Grammy-nominated Joan Osborne. Truly epic! Truly a once-in-a-lifetime!

The NedFest Family Reunion had something for everyone, bringing in long time favorites like Flash Mountain Flood, Smooth Money Gesture, and BlackDog Jazz Trio; and shined the spotlight on the up-n-coming Kylie Brock as a tweener; followed by Rocket Parade on the main stage who blew everyone away with their original tunes. RP introduced their own special guest, Dan Sproul, who has been playing with Elephant Revival, and joined Rocket Parade for this special NedFest Family Reunion.

NedFest Family Reunion continued their beautiful 20 Year NedFest tradition, filling the field with kids playing with bubbles, balls, and lots of activities at the kid’s booth. Families spent a day together playing and listening to sweet music on the lawn; while spending time with friends, making new friends, and reconnecting with long time NedFest family after the five-year hiatus. The 20th Year NedFest last took the stage at Guercio Field in 2018; claiming the same weekend as the previous 20 years, the last weekend in August.

NedFest is a 501(c)(3) We are a team of volunteers and all profits from our NedFest fundraising are donated to buy musical instruments and lessons for people across the Peak to Peak region. Over the years, NedFest, hosted by the Peak to Peak Music Association, has raised over $7,000 in our mission of music; and this year we brought back music and fun!

The Town of Nederland overflowed with music this weekend as the newly created Wine JazzFest was hosted at Chipeta Park Saturday for their second year. They complimented the seasoned NedFest music lineup, enhancing music that filled the mountains and Town. There was truly something for everyone between these events, with many attending both; the long time running NedFest Music Festival to Wine JazzFest. A beautiful thing to behold as Nederland embraces their music history representing decades of tradition.

Thank you my NedFest family for a truly epic weekend of love and fun!

Deb D’Andrea

Peak to Peak Music Association, Board of Directors