Gallery: The music, the arts and the people of GrassRoots 2024

TRUMANSBURG, NY — Thousands of people flocked to the Village of Trumansburg this weekend for the 32nd Finger Lakes GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance.

The annual event transforms the Trumansburg Fairgrounds into a place of music and celebration for four days, sometimes to the chagrin of local residents. But many locals liken it to an extended family reunion amid festival-goers from near and far and musical performances from around the world.

The headliners of this year’s festival included singer and civil rights activist Mavis Staples, Tuareg singer-songwriter Bombino, Zimbabwean Afro-funk group Mokoomba, Cuban folk band Cortadito and numerous bluegrass and Americana groups such as Old Crow Medicine Show or Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway.

Local acts also fill the festival stages, such as the funk group The Comb Down and New Planets, who describe themselves as makers of “otherworldly dance music”.

Founded in 1991, GrassRoots originally began as a modest fundraiser to combat the AIDS epidemic, but has since grown into a major cultural and social event in the Ithaca area.

Attendees and organizers shared their thoughts on the festival, the community, and some of their memories. Comments shared here have been edited from interviews for length and clarity and can be found below the photo gallery. Navigate through the gallery using the arrows on either side of the images.

Gallery of the GrassRoots Festival for Music and Dance

All photos by Alyvia Covert for The Ithaca Voice.

Richie Stearns, Co-Founder and CEO of GrassRoots

I’ve seen so many people who grew up here and how they live their lives and it’s pretty cool. It’s like a big, really big community event.

When we started playing fiddle music in the early ’70s, when we were little kids, we became part of a community that existed all over the world and eventually met people from all over the world who were doing the same thing. And we wanted to bring all that into our festival and try to get really great African bands and bands from India and Asia, local bands, in the beginning.

The first year, we were just trying to make enough money to do it again the next year and then dedicate it to AIDS work. People were just dying, dying in droves, and AIDS had this stigma attached to it that made people feel like it wasn’t something to fight for. There was just a lot of homophobia. It was just so wrong and everyone knew that, at least in that community.

I think we’ve done a really good job over the years. It’s not like we live off of farming all year round so we can do it again and make more money.

And it’s a lot of fun, but it’s definitely tiring.

Seth Palmer, participant

You can take a five-year break and then come back and see the same friends again. And it’s like you never left. It’s that kind of community.

A lot of friends help me start new businesses and give me work when I need it, so I feel really connected. Not just in Ithaca, but in Rochester and across the country.

The company is called Ithaca Nut Butter. I’ve always loved making peanut butter, and during the pandemic I wanted to make my own nut butter. So I started making it in my kitchen. And then a year went by. I went back and forth on the idea because friends said, “You should sell this,” and I just went for it. I’m starting with a regular peanut butter, a chai peanut butter, and then a peanut butter blend with mixed nuts.

I want to give back to this community as much as it has given to me. And I think with everything that has come out of this city, with the people who have started businesses here, and with what is given back to the people and the employees, I want to do the same.

Christy Montana, participant

“We actually spent a few years in Maine, but came back here after the pandemic and bought our house during the housing bubble.

“The man we bought the house from a few years ago is some kind of GrassRoots musician. Apparently it was a band house. We were told to just expect people who have been coming here for years to park there. They’ll show up. Two years ago, someone slept on our couch. He was actually a media person. He was covering something at the festival.

“He wanted to park in front of our house, and there’s a fire hydrant. We just said, ‘Come in the driveway!’ He ended up having dinner with us and sitting on the couch. Really nice guy!”

Neil Oolie, volunteer

I have been volunteering at this festival in various roles for, oh, 20 years.

It’s not just about the music, and some of it is really great, like Mavis Staples. It’s like, “Oh my God!” I mean, when I was a kid – I’ll be 69 next Friday – when I was a kid, I listened to this stuff.

The origin of the festival, the GrassRoots Festival of Music and Arts, was to support music and arts education in the fight against AIDS – that was the original idea, and I felt that these things were really important.

I come here every year, get a little stoned – a little sunburnt, but I have fun. And I love the old-time music. Real old-timers would meet outside the bar in the middle of the night and play until the sun came up. Some of the old music is disappearing. I just love this place and I love being here. I love being a part of it.

One day I was sleeping in the stands and when I woke up, someone had laid their baby on top of me. I knew that baby when it was still a baby bump inside its mother, I knew that person before they were born. Now the child is grown, in their twenties, and that’s — you don’t see that kind of personal story very often in our society.

I know that I have made a difference for people in many of the things I have done, and this is one of them: my commitment to people, my commitment to this festival.