Despite the rainy weather, many people from both Pelham and neighboring towns gathered on Sept. 23 to appreciate live music from more than a dozen different groups at Pelham’s third annual Toonerville Music Festival. This year, Toonerville had eighteen different performances that were a combination of local groups and national acts, with the Spin Doctors headlining.

“The rainy weather had a significant impact on this year’s Toonerville,” said Jason Jeffries, one of the event’s organizers. “The weather complicated the logistics of the event.” There were increased expenses due to buying larger tents to protect from the rain. Jeffries estimated there were about one-third of the people that would have attended had the weather been nicer.

Despite the rain, the event was appreciated by those who were played and those who listened.

• “Toonerville’s just a great place to come listen to music if you want to do anything on a rainy Saturday,” said Leo Garcia, a member of Backbone of Society, a local band that performed. “It’s a great way to spend your day no matter what.”
• “The amount of people that came out today is wonderful, especially with the rain, and it’s such a fun experience,” said Abby Weidemann, an attendee.
• “It’s my first time performing at a music festival, so it’s definitely a really cool experience. I’m just really grateful,” said Camille Baratier, a musician who is part of the band Kitchenette.
• “There’s so much great talent, so much great energy, and such a diversity of music, and I’m in the Army band and we wanted to be a part of that,” said Phillip Kiamie of the 78th Army Band.

Individuals in the community contributed to Toonerville, which benefits the Pelham Civic Association “We literally could not pull off this event without the help of more than 100 volunteers,” said Jefferies. “We honestly feel that Toonerville has put Pelham on the map. When was the last time News12 covered the Pelham arts scene twice in one week?”

In the future, organizers hope to get more local organizations involved, such as the Town of Pelham, Village of Pelham and chamber of commerce, particularly as the festival is a large undertaking for the Pelham Civics alone.

“This year we had Thrive cover security, EcoPel cover recycling and School of Rock help coordinate the Trolley,” said Jefferies. “We hope this trend continues.”