PRATHER – The annual Harvest Arts & Peace Festival returns to the Intermountain Nursery in Prather for the 22nd year on Saturday, Oct. 11, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, Oct. 12, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
With local farm booths, children’s activities, artisan food booths, music and dance, this much-anticipated event is a fall favorite for the whole family.
On the custom built stage situated down by the creek, an impressive line-up of bands will be performing throughout the weekend. The stage, hand built from blue-stain and round-wood ponderosa pine sourced at the nursery’s conservation easement near Dinkey Creek, is surrounded by granite boulders and bedrock which help project the sound out to the festival attendees who are relaxing in the picnic area and on the benches along Little Sandy Creek.
This year’s festival will start Saturday morning at 10 a.m. with Amber Cross & Band, a local girl from North Fork who has relocated to Los Osos and is performing regularly at venues on the Central Coast. Amber has a huge local following and sings original songs about the foothills, the San Joaquin Valley and the trials of everyday life in California. She is known as ‘the little girl with the big voice’ and has been invited to sing on radio stations around the state.
At 11:30 a.m. we will brighten up the stage with Stephanie Akers and her belly dancing routine. Stephanie teaches belly dancing classes in the foothill and Fresno area and is an expert at interpreting the lovely Arabic music and lyrics through her captivating dance moves.
Sycamore Bend, a local Bluegrass band will perform at noon with their modern acoustic sound playing all original songs. They will be followed at 1:30 by the Patrick Contreras Trio, whose sound includes Hip Hop, Mariachi, Rock, Soul, Jazz and Classical. The day rounds up with the popular Fresno based group Cerro Negro at 3 p.m. with their Flamenco & Latin Jazz sound.
On Sunday, at 10 a.m., we will have Fresno’s own balladeer Glen Delpit with his original tunes about Table Mountain Casino and the town of Sanger, followed by the Sierra High School Jazz Band and Mountain Choral Company. At 1 p.m. will be Lance Canales & The Flood whose original music is attracting attention at festivals around the country. He delivers “a stark blues twang-and-thump set that sounds like it was born somewhere between a back alley and a field worker’s camp, authentic roots music.” Lastly, at 2:30 will be Kevin Hill and the All Fresno All Stars, a compilation group of some of the best performers from the Fresno music scene.
The Harvest Arts & Peace Festival is a free, family-friendly event that celebrates community. There are local artists and fine craftspeople, artisan food booths, local farm booths selling produce and products they make, including The Kern Family Farm Kid’s Booth, community non-profits, and native plants.
For more information, please call the nursery at 559-855-3113 or visit the website at Intermountainnursery.com
