Barbara Lawlor, Nederland.  Mike Torpie would have been grinning ear to ear all weekend long.

The founder of NedFest had visions of Nederland’s musical festival that looked a lot like Friday, Saturday and Sunday: a filled to capacity crowd, a double rainbow, a full moon, local and national musicians, families dancing and children playing non-stop with each other as the bands played on.

Torpie, who died in 2012 at the age of 43,  began the music and arts festival in his backyard in 1996, having moved to Boulder from Michigan to follow Leftover Salmon. He mobilized the music scene in

Nederland and brought to fruition the festival which this past weekend proved stronger than ever. The Peak to Peak Music Education Association (PPMEA) has continued the festival and helped it evolve into a nationally known family oriented event.  *PPMEA is a non-profit organization providing opportunities for music education to kids in our community.

Box Office Coordinator and Board of Director member, Lyn Hanna said that for the first time since PPMEA took over the Festival they hit record attendance Saturday night with approximately 1,400 people on Guercio field.

On Friday the gates opened at 5:30 p.m. with local favorite band Gipsy Moon setting the mood during a quick drenching rainstorm and then a glorious double rainbow heralding the evening. As the raindrops reflected the rays of the setting sun, sparkling, lighted gadgets and dazzlingly lit hula hoops began their trips into the sky, at the end of children’s’ hands and around the waists of agile twirlers, creating an alien invasion setting against the black night.

March Fourth and its huge band of assorted Sergeant Pepper type character blared their trumpets and trombones as burlesque type dancer kept the eyes on the stage. Except for a few non-festival related disturbances at Chipeta Park, it was a peaceful beginning to the weekend.

The parking lot at Chipeta was filled with tents and rvs as campers snatched up all available slots. Whether the perfect weather was the reason for the crowd, or the band lineup or the full moon, all the stars seems to have had aligned to confirm that NedFest has come into its own as an established and respected town event.

Many of the parties went on until the early morning light. As the gates opened before noon on Saturday, the crowd straggled in, increasing in numbers as the day went on with temperatures hitting mid-80s, hot for the mountains. The kids’ activity tent was packed all day, as children got their face painting, made bracelets and necklaces, played in the sandbox, put together pipes and fittings and gawked at the life-looking dog puppet that performed amazing tricks and cajoled folks into petting him.

For the sixth year in a row, Indian Peaks Water offered free water, which was much needed as the sun baked the festival grounds.

Thousands of bags of free Kettle chips were given away throughout the weekend. Probably one of the best ideas ever to come out of NedFest was the mural against the chain link fest. Put up white and clean, the boards were magnet for artists of all ages to add their hand-painted scenes, I heart NedFest slogans. A table with dozens of cups filled with paint and brushes was available for anyone with a desire to leave his or her mark on the boards, which were silent auctioned off later, proceeds going to the PPMEA.

At 3 p.m., carrying BOOM!, WHAM! and POW! signs, the festival kids paraded around the ball park wearing super hero capes and ubiquitous fedoras, this year’s must-have item.

Vendors fed and hydrated the crowd, offering a variety of foods, including bacon-wrapped jalapenos, sizzling on the grill and Rocky Mountain Sangria, along with a variety of local beers. The sangria is the first of its kind, from *What We Love* a north Boulder brewery, featuring a concentrated red or white, with real fruit and 20 percents alcohol, to mixed 1-4 with water or soda, available at Peak Spirits.

Vendor Coordinator and PPMEA Board member Deb D’Andrea said a majority of the vendors have already expressed interest in returning next year. “

As usual capes for all sizes was a hot item and summer dresses and luscious scarves and jewelry found their way into festival-goer pocketbooks. A good deal for everyone.

Saturday started out with local Funky Tonk Heros followed by Acoustics Anonymous from St. Louis, both often featured at the Very Nice Brewing Company.

On Saturday afternoon, Gasoline Lollipops, a local band about to release its third CD, with Clay Rose pulling at heartstrings with his growls of intense emotion, ratcheted the crowd up a few notches, taking them out of a hot summer mellow day into an action-packed evening.Lollipops has it all: the can do everything voice, the wailing fiddle, the pulse pounding drums and the bass that puts it all together.

These guys have been at it for a long time and are taking off and going places and they had the audience in their pockets.

As the night thickened, Hard Working Americans played through the sunset and when the Chris Robinson Brotherhood came on the crowd was at its peak of anticipation. The full moon rose over the horizon of Barker Reservoir and the night show was in full swing.

At 10 p.m. the sound system went to bed and the party dispersed into town for the late show at the Black Forest Restaurant and to the bars and stages in town.

Sunday began with the CBMS Young Pickers, groups of local kids who have studied with Annie Savage and Doug Armitage of Brightwood Music and who relished the chance to stand in front of an audience and demonstrate their instrumental and vocal skills, not to mention the confidence it takes to stand up and perform in front of a large audience.

The Half-Brain Society, a Nederland High School band has added many new songs to their repertoire and a new edge to their music that takes them out of the novice group into the seasoned talent category.

But the festival was a long way from being over. The Caribou Mountain Collective got the groove going round 2 p.m. and Vince Herman and Friends, always the local favorite and his popular peers carried the audience into the evening when Cracker brought the weekend to an end.

Event organizers and volunteers agreed that it was the biggest NedFest event they had participated in since it began. *Deb D’Andrea said “I feel fortunate to be part of a Nederland 17 year old tradition which offers our Town children the opportunity to play on Stage and join in a family friendly three day magical event where all can enjoy amazing music, friends, food, a variety of vendors and a kids Parade.”

NedFest is now a well-oiled machine that evolves each year into the Ned’s musical, family fun event of the summer.