Flo Fest: Florence’s free street festival to return with music, art, and more

NORTHAMPTON — In a year in which a few western Massachusetts festivals will not return, one of them is back — with a new name.

Florence Night Out, a free street festival in downtown Florence that last took place in 2022, will return this year as Flo Fest on Saturday, Sept. 19, from 4 to 8 p.m. Flo Fest will feature live music, local food and free activities, including temporary tattoos, pop-up art galleries, Pokémon and Magic: The Gathering card game tutorials, and more.

Before that, though, JJ’s Tavern in Florence will host an all-ages fundraiser this Saturday, from 4 to 8:30 p.m., to help cover some of the expenses for the festival. The event will feature karaoke, performances by Friends of Flo and The Kill Phill, and a silent auction featuring goods and gift cards from local artists and businesses.

Festival founder and artist Chloe Torri and her team are hoping to raise $25,000 for the festival, and they’ve already raised more than $12,000 as of this writing.

Knowing that Cultural Chaos in Easthampton and the NEPM Asparagus Festival in Hadley would not return this year added “a little bit more weight” to the significance of making Flo Fest happen, Torri said, “but it’s what fuels us.”

Torri said bringing community together and creating more third spaces — places where people can relax and be part of a community — is important right now. “We have the audacity and the spirit to do it. [There’s] a little more weight, a little bit more responsibility, but the desire is there.”

So far, the festival has already received about 50 or 60 applications for its performer slots, according to music promoter and festival organizer Glen Fant, and they’ve added a third stage as a result.

The lineup will include the Northampton High School improv troupe Funktionlust, dancers, “rock bands, bands that do covers, Western bands, and some world music representing all sorts of cultures,” Fant said. “We’ll have electronic music and singer-songwriters — pretty much anything you could think of, it’ll hopefully be represented a little bit.”

Torri and Fant both said that festivals like this were important to them when they were younger: at local festivals, Fant had some of his first opportunities to play music, and Torri likewise had early experiences with community volunteering.

“That’s one of the big reasons why I’m drawn to making sure that happens for the kiddos around here who want to play in a band and see some live music for free,” Fant said.

Beyond that, Torri said, “As cheesy as it sounds, I love being a part of a huge collective experience.”

“So often, we’re in our own humdrum schedules and we’re doing our routine; maybe we see the same people over and over again,” she said. “But experiencing the same concert, experiencing the same art show, experiencing an event together — that’s going to just create so much connectivity that’ll last until the next summer, and then we’ll do it again!”

Admission to the fundraiser is $10 to $30, sliding scale, at the door with cash or check or at givebutter.com/WesternMassFloFest by writing “Ticket Donation” in the message. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. All proceeds will benefit festival operations. For more information about Flo Fest, visit westernmassflofest.wixsite.com/event or instagram.com/westernmassflofest.