Rock The Green River Festival With Kids!

The Green River Festival is an event hosted by Greenfield Community Colleges and features world class music, great local food, beer & wine, a handmade craft fair, and lots of family games and activities. On top of that, they launch hot air balloons and host a balloon glow on Saturday night. The festival has been named one of the 50 must see music festivals by Rolling Stone (2015), was included in USA Today’s guide to the season’s best music festivals and named as one of the fifty essential summer music festivals by the New York Times.

A few years ago, I had the pleasure of attending the Green River Festival  on my own (sans kids). I was really surprised to see just how family friendly the event was…. most times, music festivals and kids don’t exactly go together! I reached out to the organizers of the event to gather more information about just how kid friendly the Green River Festival really is. This is not a sponsored post.

• There aren’t any vendors selling sunscreen, but families should visit the cooling tent sponsored by Baystate Health which offers shade, huge cooling fans, and water.
• If a child gets separated from their family, parents should go to the headquarters tent near the festival entrance. The college’s public safety office is right next to the tent and they will take it from there. An announcement will be made from the main stage if needed.
• Small coolers allowed. No rolling coolers will be allowed to enter.
• Bring your own water bottles. They’ll have stations where you can refill them!
• Hattaporn’s Thai Kitchen will have many good gluten free options: Tofu pad thai, Chicken satay, Cucumber salad, Thai iced tea, and banana rolls

Green River Festival With Kids: The Freebies (no ticket required)

• MISTER G will perform his GRAMMY award winning kids music on Saturday, July 9th. 1-2 pm on The Parlor Room Stage.
• The Art Garden. Join The Art Garden at the Green River Festival again this year, for free art activities for all ages under the big tent in the lower field (Noon to 6pm each day).We’ll have an abundance of quality art materials, inspiring ideas, and plenty of work/play space for kids and adults to GET CREATIVE! On Saturday, we will focus on making processional flying creatures, masks and music-makers for our Mardi Gras parade. On Sunday, we’ll introduce a variety of new mixed media projects using paint, fabric and upcycled materials.
• Family Mardi Gras parade Saturday. Get outfitted at the Art Garden. Join us for a festival tradition, the Mardis Gras parade, led by a festival band which travels around the fairgrounds starting at 5:30 pm.
• A swimming shuttle will run every 30 minutes from 2-6pm Saturday and Sunday to The Green River, only a 5 minute ride away. The cost is $5 for adults and $3 for kids – pay on the bus, not at the gate. Last shuttle departs at 5:15pm.
• Tethered hot air balloon rides which take about 5 minutes and see the balloon rise above the field while held to a stationary point. Tickets can be purchased that day on the field at $10 for kids and $15 for adults.
• Ukuleles for kids: In the luthiers’ section of The Makers Market, Downtown Joe will lead fun hour-long sessions for kids and adults to learn to play the ukulele together. These session will happen on Saturday and Sunday.
• Family activities: Hay Bale Maze, a bouncy house, and an expanded lawn games section at The Art Garden on both Saturday and Sunday.

The 2016 Green River Festival runs Friday Jul 8, 2016  –  Sunday Jul 10, 2016. Tickets are still available. Head here for more info. 

Image Credits: Image 1 ( Recorder/Paul Franz), Image 2 (Nancyjo Rongner ), Image 3 (Nancyjo Rongner)