On Saturday at noon, local bands will take to the stage to make a lasting mark on the village of Pawtuxet.
The second annual You Rock the Neighborhood Music Fest will be held at Pawtuxet Park to raise funds for repairs to the park.
Local resident Selene Byron says the park badly needs repairs. Byron, alongside coworker Sean Rogan, first got the idea to start a fundraiser for a new playground in the park, saying that the current one is not in good condition.
Once she got in touch with the Pawtuxet Village Association, though, she realized the scope of work that needed to be done.
“It’s a much bigger project than just the playground,” Byron said. “We need to completely overhaul the park (…) The trees need to come down, and there are plans in place. It’s just taking longer than we all would have anticipated.”
However, with other Warwick parks in need of extensive work, Pawtuxet Park is not a top priority for the city. Byron said she was informed by the city that Pawtuxet is “low on the totem pole” for repairs compared to other parks in the city.
As such, she decided to organize the first You Rock the Neighborhood Music Fest last year to show community support for the park and raise money to get some work done.
“It was so grassroots,” Byron said. “I’m hoping we get that same kind of vibe and energy and excitement this year, and it just is so much better.”
The event is being sponsored and organized by You Rock School of Music, a local school on the Cranston side of the village where Byron and Rogan work.
The event’s headliners will be Salter’s Groove, Rogan’s band. Salter’s Groove isn’t the only band named after a Pawtuxet locale, with Byron noting that her band, Stillhouse, is as well.
In total, Byron said, more than 15 bands will perform throughout the day, with different bands specializing in hard rock, punk rock and feminist rock among them.
In addition to the music, different food trucks will be at the park throughout the day, including a truck from Buttonwoods Brewery serving beer, and kids’ activities such as coloring, face painting and temporary tattoos. There will also be 12 local artists displaying their work at the festival, which Byron said was one of the most exciting additions to this year’s festival.
“There’s so many talented artists in our area,” Byron said. “It’s amazing how much there is here.”
The biggest change from last year’s festival, Byron said, is the addition of a silent auction, which will be selling the art displayed at the festival, among other items.
Other than that, Byron said the only changes made from last year’s festival were smaller ones, such as the food trucks donating 10% of their earnings from the afternoon for the park’s revitalization.
Last year, Byron said, around 300 people attended, and she raised more than $3,000, which was enough to fund surveying work to help remove dead trees in the park and plant new ones.
Byron aims to top last year’s numbers.
“If we can exceed what we did last year, that’d be great,” she said. “If we can make it to around $5,000, I’d be thrilled.”
The festivals, she said, would be continuing annually until the park is revitalized. Once the park is revitalized, though, Byron sees herself continuing the event for another cause.
“We’re just a very small park, so we’re trying to make a little bit of noise, but raise money at the same time for when it is our turn,” she said. “And it pulls the community together.”
With Saturday fast approaching, Byron is hoping for good weather and looking forward to energizing the community.
Being able to put on an event like You Rock the Neighborhood for Pawtuxet, she said, was truly special for her.
“That there’s this level of support, this many people willing to go out for something like this — this community is so amazing,” Byron said. “The people all know each other. Our kids have grown up together, and we’ve kind of grown up together with our kids. We love where we live, so we want to do whatever we can to just make our community better.”
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