The Toonerville Music Festival hosted performances by 10,000 Maniacs, Wells Ferrari, Jeffrey Gaines, Brandi and the Alexanders, Rachel Ana Doboken, The Lonely Together, Corinthian Hall, Today’s Outfit, Farm Bureau, Emmet Mclaughlin, The Stellar Wolfs, The Danned, Dos Decadas, The Mellow Fellows, Sade Fox, Seventh Avenue and Liam Ginsburg Saturday in the village parking lot behind Rockwells.
The big space was lined with food trucks including Carvel, Empabake and Pizza da Michelino, as well as merch stands and activities for young children offered by Dani Lee’s Helping Hands.
“Myself as well as some other musicians in Pelham organized the festival,” said Jason Jeffries, who performed with The Stellar Wolfs. “This is my fourth year performing at Toonerville, and I really enjoyed listening to Brandi and the Alexanders, The Mellow Fellows and The Lonely Together. But the song we perform that I enjoy is ‘Signs and Traffic.'”
Matt Dean, another organizer, played with both The Stellar Wolfs and The Dan.
“Each year that we’ve done this, it’s gotten tighter and easier, definitely more fun,” said Dean. “Brandi and The Alexanders and The Lonely Together were great, so we asked them to come back to Toonerville this year. The opening band, 7th Avenue, was great.”
Lucette Ow, a Pelham Memorial High School senior, sang the national anthem and later performed pieces with Kenny Gambone, another student. “I really enjoyed performing for Toonerville and having the audience cheer for us. The energy was great,” said Ow. “This was also my first time performing the national anthem.”
“All the other bands sound great, and I was happy to be part of this,” said Gambone.
Pelham-based band 7th Avenue opened the the show.
“Performing at Toonerville was fantastic, very fun,” said Will Russello, drummer for 7th Avenue.
“I really enjoyed playing our original song, ‘Call Me When You’re Around,'” said Sam Bonnano, lead vocalist of 7th Avenue. “We’ve never performed it on stage before, and seeing the crowd’s reaction was awesome. This is the first time our band has done something that felt official.”
“Brandi and the Alexanders were absolutely remarkable. They had a phenomenal sound and musicianship,” said Christian Prencis, guitarist for The Mellow Fellows. Theo Romaniuk, bassist for the Mellow Fellows, said “It’s great to be able to sell our merch and get our name out to promote our band.”
The members of 7th Avenue and The Mellow Fellows attend PMHS.
Toonerville social media manager Audrey Pursel said, “Talking to a bunch of different people, bands and businesses has been great.”
Connect with Pelham music and Toonerville via @toonervillemusicfestival on Instagram.
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