TCCC's 9th Annual
Pete Seeger Festival
Sunday, May 4th, 2-5 pm

This is a FREE, family-friendly event held outdoors.  Donations will be shared with local organizations that Pete created, including the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, the Beacon Sloop Club and the River Pool at Beacon.

Join us as we celebrate the musical, environmental and humanitarian legacy of our neighbor, mentor and friend. This FREE, family-friendly event will be held outdoors on the Tompkins Corners lawn. 

All donations will go to Pete's favorite organizations.

Photo courtesy of Linda Thornton

Trouble Sisters at the 2023 Pete Seeger Fest.  Photo courtesy of Linda Thornton.

Pete Seeger Fest 2023 Betty and the Boomers.  Photo courtesy of Linda Thornton.

---

MOVE Choir New this year will be a group of young performers from Cold Spring, the “MOVE Choir” under the direction of Linda Richards. They will join our veteran performers on stage.

Jacob and David Bernz hail from Beacon, where roots music has found a welcome home in the Hudson Valley.  David is a two-time Grammy-winning producer for Pete Seeger and a longtime Hudson Valley performing artist. His son Jacob is one of the Valley's most prolific songwriters, whose high, honest tenor has captivated audiences from the start. You can find them at Main Street Music in Beacon.

Betty and the Baby Boomers have been performing together since debuting at Clearwater’s Great Hudson River Revival in 1987. Four-part signature harmonies mark the Boomers sound which is supported by sparkling guitar and Dobro and rounded out by light percussion and soulful acoustic bass.  Their music is highlighted by a repertoire ranging from originals covered by Pete Seeger to gems gathered while singing from New York’s Catskills to the Connemara region of Ireland.  The Boomers are Betty Boomer vocals, Jean Valla McAvoy, vocals, Paul Rubeo on guitar, percussion, and vocals, Steve Stanne on guitar, dobro, and vocals, and Robert Bard on bass.

Rick and Donna Nestler enjoyed a 35-year friendship with Pete Seeger and sailed with Pete as first mate on his boat the Woody Guthrie. They worked together on the building of the Ferry Sloop, Sojourner Truth. All the while, they played together at various festivals, benefits, and for fun! His song, "The River That Flows Both Ways", has become an anthem for those who care about the Hudson River and its preservation, and was recorded by Pete Seeger, Rich Bala, and Betty & the Baby Boomers. Donna is a classically trained multi-instrumentalist who has toured Europe and even played a bassoon solo at Heidelberg Castle. She also leads her own jug band, "the Dirty Stay Out Skiflers" in which she plays her own unique style of banjolele!

R. J. Storm and the Old School Bluegrass Band is a well-established Hudson Valley band playing both traditional and forward-thinking music. From local Hudson Valley events to the stages of the Newport Folk Festival and beyond, the Old School Bluegrass Band has won the acclaim of listeners young and old, new and seasoned, and warmly invites new listeners to explore the beauty of some wonderful live music! After this recent plague and being hammered by the general problems life throws at us, if you go home with a smile, or hum a tune, or retell a joke we reeled off, well then we did our job to entertain and lift souls. The upright bass, acoustic guitar, fiddle and 5-string banjo complement the 3 and 4 part harmonies, all revolving around that classic single mic, with that intimate and Old School sound!

The Trouble Sisters ~ Karen Brooks, Laurie Siegel and Melissa Ortquist, are the Beacon-centered trio who met through the Clearwater and singing with Pete. Karen is a sheep farmer, singer -songwriter, retired elementary music teacher, studio musician and recording artist. member of The Trouble Sisters and the Breakneck Ridge Revue, a Hudson Valley band. Melissa began singing at an early age in the church. She sings a capella or with accompaniment, either way with a clear voice, both in its vocal quality and its message.

Plus, Roy Diggit Linda Richards, Sarah Underhill, Laurie Siegel & Patrick Stanfield Jones, and Joe Kaminsky.

List of 2025 Artisans

Kate Hoekstra, Denise Leaden’s Simple Silver, Nancy Holmes Doyle’s Bogside Pottery, Ivy Kelly’s Whims and Mystical Fiberworks, and Marlene Ratliff’s Hand Made on the Hudson

Denise Leaden ~ Silver jewelry at DL Silver Craft

---

Marlene Ratliff

Ivy Kelly

---

Nancy Holmes Doyle ~ Bog Side Pottery

Kathleen Hoekstra