A box of slides was a mystery to me. It contained colourful photos of hang gliders and hot air balloons but I couldn't remember the occasion. The proximity in time to another box of slides of New England scenes suggested it had been taken in the northern summer of 1986, when I had been doing an internship in Boston.
I searched the Internet and found a likely candidate, the Green River Festival. It sounded right, it's 2 hours drive west of Boston. Quite possibly a colleague at work had told me about it. I read some more and discovered that it had started in 1986, the year I attended and is now a major country and roots music festival in the US. So I had witnessed a piece of music history, right?
Well, it's not so simple. According to an interview with someone who had been there, it started off as a fifth anniversary celebration for WRSI, which started broadcasting 26 July 1981. The music festival was held a week before the balloon festival. The next year they decided to merge the two events, since balloons are best launched when the air is calm, in the morning or evening, and there are many idle hours in between, so music could fill the gap. Over the years, GRF has morphed from a balloon festival with some music to a music festival with some ballooning.
So that means the music festival had been held the weekend prior, which explains why I don't recall any music acts. I'm guessing that I visited the weekend of 26-27 July 1986. I can't find any information about when it was held all those years ago, so any correction is welcome. The balloon festival would have been longer standing so balloonists and spectators knew about it.
Anyway, enough chatter from me. Enjoy the photos below without any commentary, since I don't really have anything to add. – Author, Dec 2013
I searched the Internet and found a likely candidate, the Green River Festival. It sounded right, it's 2 hours drive west of Boston. Quite possibly a colleague at work had told me about it. I read some more and discovered that it had started in 1986, the year I attended and is now a major country and roots music festival in the US. So I had witnessed a piece of music history, right?
Well, it's not so simple. According to an interview with someone who had been there, it started off as a fifth anniversary celebration for WRSI, which started broadcasting 26 July 1981. The music festival was held a week before the balloon festival. The next year they decided to merge the two events, since balloons are best launched when the air is calm, in the morning or evening, and there are many idle hours in between, so music could fill the gap. Over the years, GRF has morphed from a balloon festival with some music to a music festival with some ballooning.
So that means the music festival had been held the weekend prior, which explains why I don't recall any music acts. I'm guessing that I visited the weekend of 26-27 July 1986. I can't find any information about when it was held all those years ago, so any correction is welcome. The balloon festival would have been longer standing so balloonists and spectators knew about it.
Anyway, enough chatter from me. Enjoy the photos below without any commentary, since I don't really have anything to add. – Author, Dec 2013
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