By Bill Van Tassel
KINGFIELD — It wasn’t quite as hot as it would get a couple of days later, but it was a clear, warm day for the 16th annual Kingfield POPS concert on June 30. The concert stage is set on the property of Jeff and Wendy Kennedy just off Depot Street, who have allowed the event to use their property ever year.
A major component of the POPS is to bring high quality music to the school children of Franklin county, and they sponsor concerts in the schools as well as run an instrument donation drive to help hopeful musicians get the tools they need to play in their school. The POPS also provided free tickets to the June concert for students. In addition, the June concert also features some local musicians who have gone on to make careers in music performance.
This year’s large program featured the folk group Golden Oak, with Zak and Lena Kendall, originally from New Sharon. The Western Mountain Trash Band was present with their community, steel drum players.
The Bangor Symphony provided classical and patriotic pieces to accompany the fireworks. The orchestra also teamed up with the Adam Ezra Group from Boston and Gypsy Tailwind with award-winning singer Anna Lombard to perform some original orchestral works written by Benjamin Birkbeck, a composer from Yarmouth. The program preceding the appearance of the symphony also included Shawn Tooley. Tooley is a songwriter and performer from Portland and Napa, Calif.
The POPS began in 2003 as a project of the Mount Abram Economic Development Association. Its goal was to help bring tourists from other parts of Maine and New England in order to boost the local economy after a downturn in the economy, due in part to loss of jobs in the forest products industry. The summer concert grew over its 16 years attracting thousands of people, many of whom return year after year often bringing summer guests from out of state. The POPS also provides a perfect venue for high-quality local musicians to display their talents in collaboration with each other. Likewise, new music has occasionally had its debut at the Kingfield venue.
