ArtsFalmouth, Inc., presents its twelfth annual Woods Hole Trad Stroll on Saturday, May 2, from noon to 5:30 PM in Woods Hole Community Hall and nearby venues. There will be an Artisans Market with hand-crafted items by local artists and craftspeople in the lower level of Community Hall from noon to 5:30 PM. A lively Contra Dance will follow from 7:30 to 10 PM. The Stroll takes place rain or shine, and all events, except the Contra Dance, are free.
The Stroll offers something for every musical taste: Celtic, old-time, folk, country, roots music, Texas swing, gypsy jazz, Latin American music, and more. Performers include Stroll regulars Sonnay Fiddlers, the Familiars of Cape Cod, Cat’s Melodeon, The Falmouth Fiddlers, and Just Picked. Bands new to the event are Blue Train, Heather and Holly, Moqueca, and the Barnstable County Bogtrotters. Plus, there will be dancing along Water Street with the Nobska Lights and Vineyard Swordfish.
After a break for dinner in one of Woods Hole’s many restaurants, all are invited to the Contra Dance with caller Marcie Van Cleave and music by the Woods Hole Folk Orchestra. Admission to the Contra Dance is $10, $5 for teens.
WHTS schedule cards will be available in various shops and restaurants prior to the event and at concert locations on the day of the event. Concerts are one hour long, except for Cat’s Melodeon, which is two hours. Detailed information is available on artsfalmouth.org.
The Woods Hole Trad Stroll takes place in Woods Hole Community Hall, 68 Water Street, and at five nearby venues. Attendees are invited to stroll among events as the music moves them.
From noon to 1 PM, the Falmouth Fiddlers will perform fiddle tunes and traditional songs on play fiddles, banjo, bass, bodhran, guitars, mandolins, whistles, and cello 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 Sonnay Fiddlers, a group of Nikki Engstrom’s young and older fiddle students, will perform Celtic tunes from 1 to 2 PM at Martha’s Vineyard Bank, 2 Water Street. At Community Hall, from 1:30 to 2:30 PM, Moqueca, featuring vocalist Olivia Yingling, will perform music from Brazil and other South American countries: traditional folk songs, bossa novas, jazz standards, pop tunes, choros, sambas, milongas, and waltzes.
Blue Train performs bluegrass, Texas swing, gypsy jazz tunes and more on fiddle, banjo, mandolin, guitar, and bass at 2 PM at Pie in the Sky Bakery & Café, 10 Water Street. At 3 PM, the Familiars of Cape Cod, featuring Manny and Linda Dias, Frank Carotenuto, and Bob Nelson, will perform folk, fiddle, country, and Americana music outside at Woods Hole Historical Museum’s Small Boat Museum.
Between 2 and 4 PM, the Nobska Lights and Vineyard Swordfish will dance along Water Street. Nobska Lights is a youth folk dance team based in Woods Hole and specializing in traditional English sword dances. Vineyard Swordfish is a longsword dance team based in Falmouth with a longstanding connection to Martha’s Vineyard.
The Barnstable County Bogtrotters, featuring Tom Goux, Dan Lanier, and John Alden, will share songs and shanties of the sea and other folk tunes at 3 PM in Wood Hole Community Hall.
Heather and Holly, with violinist Heather Swanson and bodhran player Holly Silva, will play traditional Irish and folk music at 4 PM in the Woods Hole Library, 581 Woods Hole Road. Just Picked, with Stephanie Murphy on guitar/vocals, Doug Sheprow on guitar/harmony, Amy Larkin on fiddle/harmony, and Jonathan Larkin on accordion and octave mandolin, will perform bluegrass, folk, country, and Americana favorites at 4:30 PM in Woods Hole Community Hall.
In case of rain: Blue Train, the Familiars, and the dance teams will perform in the Old Fire Station at 72 Water Street.
Stroll attendees are encouraged to enjoy dinner at one of Woods Hole’s restaurants during the break from 5:30 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 easy-to-learn moves, while the Woods Hole Folk Orchestra plays spirited, foot-tapping music.
Free parking is provided by WHOI at the Shiverick Lot at 11 School Street, the School Street Lot at 49 School Street, and the Dyer’s Dock Lot at 44 Water Street by the drawbridge. See posted event parking signs.
The Woods Hole Trad Stroll is supported by grants from the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod, the Falmouth Cultural Council, the South Shore Playhouse Associates, the Woods Hole Foundation, the Falmouth Fund of the Cape Cod Foundation, and other grants and donations from businesses and individuals. For more information, visit artsfalmouth.org.
Notes on The Arts 