ArtsFalmouth, Inc., presents its eleventh annual Woods Hole Trad Stroll on Saturday, May 3, from noon to 6 PM, with a Contra Dance following, from 7:30 to 10 PM. The Stroll takes place rain or shine, and all events are free and open to the public.
Once again, the village will resonate with lively Celtic, old-time, folk, country, and roots music. Performers include Stroll regulars Stanley & Grimm and the Sonnay Fiddlers, the Familiars of Cape Cod, Cat’s Melodeon, The Harper and the Minstrel, The Falmouth Fiddlers, and Amy & Jonathan Larkin. Bands new to the event are Bourbon Sunset, Tom Leidenfrost, RumbleWagon, Just Picked, and the All Worn Out Jug Band. Plus, there will be dancing along Water Street with the Nobska Lights and Harbour Steel dance teams. After a break for dinner, all are invited to the Contra Dance.
New this year is a collaboration with the Sea Education Association (SEA), who offer a free “open ship” tour of the SSV Corwith Cramer from 12 to 3 PM at Dyer’s Dock (behind Coffee Obsession/next to Landfall). The public may tour the research vessel, learn about SEA’s high school and undergraduate programs, and talk to crew about life at sea. The open ship is family-friendly and free.
WHTS schedule cards will be available on the day of the event. Detailed information is available on the ArtsFalmouth website.
The Woods Hole Trad Stroll is actually two concurrent series of concerts, one in Woods Hole Community Hall, 68 Water Street, and the other at six different venues.
From noon to 1 PM, Stanley & Grimm (Nikki Engstrom and Sean Brennan), along with members of the Sonnay Fiddlers, will interpret traditional Irish music—jigs, reels, and songs—with fiddle, guitar, and voice at Woods Hole Community Hall. Meanwhile, from noon to 2 PM, Cat’s Melodeon will be found on Coffee Obsession’s porch, 38 Water Street. Led by Bill Black, Cat’s Melodeon specializes in Irish traditional music on fiddles, guitars, pipes, banjo, and flute.
The Harper and the Minstrel (Jay and Abby Michaels) play traditional Celtic music on a variety of traditional instruments from 1 to 2 PM at Martha’s Vineyard Bank, 2 Water Street. At Community Hall, from 1:15 to 2:15 PM, the Familiars of Cape Cod, featuring Manny and Linda Dias, Rusty Strange, and Bob Nelson, will perform folk, fiddle, country, and Americana music.
Just Picked will play bluegrass, folk, country, and Americana music at Pie in the Sky Bakery & Café, 10 Water Street, from 2 to 3 PM. Just Picked features Stephanie Murphy on guitar/vocals, Doug Sheprow on guitar/harmony, and Amy Larkin on fiddle/harmony. At Community Hall, from 2:30 to 3:30 PM, Bourbon Sunset will perform bluegrass and folk music. Bourbon Sunset is the Outer Cape trio of Chris Miner on mandolin, Lynda Shuster on banjo, and Peter Waful on guitar.
Between 2 and 4 PM, two dance teams, the Nobska Lights and Harbour Steel, will perform along Water Street, near Community Hall. Nobska Lights is a youth folk dance team based in Woods Hole and specializing in traditional English sword dances. Harbour Steel is a rapper sword dancing team from the Boston area whose name is inspired by the harbor seals that frequent the nearby coastline.
The All Worn Out Jug Band plays jug band classics and American roots music—Cajun, country, and gospel, from 3 to 4 PM at the Woods Hole Historical Museum’s Small Boat Museum, 579 Woods Hole Road. The band includes Gregory Baird, Kevin Howard, Mary Loebig, and Edmund Robinson playing washtub or doghouse bass, washboard, kazoos, whistles, and a jug, as well as guitar, mandolin, ukulele, fiddle, banjo, dobro, and concertina.
From 3:45 to 4:45 at Community Hall, Tom Leidenfrost plays and sings traditional folk music, sea shanties, and Irish music on the accordion. Jonathan & Amy Larkin perform from 4 to 5 PM at the Woods Hole Library, 581 Woods Hole Road. They play energetic Cajun, Québécois, and Americana music.
RumbleWagon performs traditional and alternative country music from 5 to 6 PM at Community Hall. Members include lead vocalist Leslie Gage and guitarists Steve McElheny and Greg Polanik. Also, from 5 to 6 PM, in the Old Fire Station, 72 Water Street, the Falmouth Fiddlers play fiddle tunes and more on fiddles, banjos, bass, bodhrán, guitars, mandolins, whistles, and cello.
In case of rain: Just Picked, the All Worn Out Jug Band, and the dance teams will be in the Old Fire Station.
Stroll attendees are encouraged to enjoy dinner at one of Woods Hole’s restaurants during the break from 6 to 7:30 PM.
All are welcome to join the Contra Dance from 7:30 to 10 PM in Community Hall. Marcie Van Cleave will provide instructions and lead the dancers through the moves, while the Woods Hole Folk Orchestra plays lively, foot-tapping music.
Parking is provided by WHOI and Marine Biological Laboratory. Attendees may use the WHOI Shiverick Lot at 11 School Street, the WHOI School Street Lot at 49 School Street, the WHOI Dyer’s Dock Lot at 44 Water Street by the drawbridge, and the Cornelia Clapp Auditorium Lot at 7 MBL Street. See posted event parking signs.
The Woods Hole Trad Stroll is supported by grants from the Falmouth Cultural Council, the Melody Tent, the Woods Hole Foundation, the Falmouth Fund of the Cape Cod Foundation, and other grants and donations. For more information, visit artsfalmouth.org.
Notes on The Arts 