Welcome to the 2025 Summer Concert Series!
The 2025 Ballard Park Concerts are made possible in part by the Town of Westport, Chazy and Westport Communications, Stewart’s Shops, Rogers-Carroll Family Foundation, Cloudsplitter Foundation, Essex County Arts Council’s Cultural Assistance Program grant with funding from Essex County, and many generous supporters.
In case of rain, most performances will move to the Whallonsburg Grange on the same day & time. Other alternative locations will be announced soon. Food can be purchased from Winton’s 1898 Tavern at Ballard Park’s skating hut.
Thursday, July 24, 2024
Durham County Poets
Thursday, July 10, 2025
Cold Chocolate
COLD CHOCOLATE is a popular Boston-based duo that fuses folk, funk and bluegrass to create a unique sound all their own. With Ethan Robbins on vocals, guitar and mandolin, and Ariel Bernstein on vocals, percussion and banjo, this power duo impresses audiences throughout New England and beyond. Punctuated by tight harmonies and skillful musicianship, Cold Chocolate has quickly gained recognition for their original music and high-energy shows.
DURHAM COUNTY POETS was formed in Ormstown, Quebec, and has performed extensively at some of the most prestigious blues and folk festivals, and venues throughout Canada and into the United States. Its unique sound is an authentic, contemporary blend of Blues, Soul, Folk, R&B, and Gospel. The group’s core includes lead singer Kevin Harvey, with his warm, soulful vocals, bass player Carl Rufh, and drummer Rob Couture. Guitarist Rob MacDonald and saxophonist/arranger Mark Leclerc also bring their unique musical skills to the group, and the entire ensemble radiates joy and exuberance.
Thursday, July 17, 2025
Zikina
Global musical phenomenon ZIKINA features musicians who came from across continents and cultures to make something beautiful and new. Uganda native Gideon Ampeire draws you in with a variety of traditional East African instruments, including enanga (zither), adungu (harp), and kalimba (thumb piano) - all of which he builds himself. Michael Cardozo (guitar, percussion) improvises melodic conversations with Gideon and dances through the beat with punchy rhythmic lines. Roston Kirk (bass) and Kurt Eisele-Dyrli (drums) weave a sonic landscape that flows seamlessly from intense grooves to joyous dance beats to dreamy textures, as Gideon's vocals cut powerfully through the fabric or float lightly above.
Opening for ZIKINA is SHOW OF CARDS, an indie folk-rock band founded by siblings Karen and Michael Cardozo. The duo's set features a selection of prior work as well as new material from Karen's forthcoming solo album, inspired by her time in Westport. Both acts are based in the region spanning Western Massachusetts and Connecticut
Thursday, August 7, 2025
Meadowmount School of Music
MEADOWMOUNT SCHOOL OF MUSIC is a world-renowned summer string instrument school in Westport, where young musicians ages 10 to 30 come to practice, train with faculty, participate in coachings and rehearsals with their assigned chamber music group, and attend masterclasses and performances by faculty and guest artists. This final concert of Meadowmount’s 2025 season showcases chamber groups from the School, joining Ballard Park in recognition of Anne Ballard "Petey" Cerf, the founder of the Park, and longtime friend and supporter of Meadowmount.
Thursday, August 14, 2025
Joe McGinness
Thursday, July 31, 2025
Ray Vega Afro-Caribbean Jazz Ensemble
RAY VEGA AFRO-CARIBBEAN JAZZ ENSEMBLE is back by popular demand! Vega is a multi-talented trumpeter, percussionist, composer, and arranger, and an innovator in the international and Latin music jazz scenes. He is known for presenting jazz from a refreshingly original and contemporary perspective. As a senior lecturer at University of Vermont, he teaches trumpet and Jazz History, and coaches four jazz combos. Vega is a native of the South Bronx, and a veteran of the bands of Tito Puente, Ray Barretto, Mongo Santamaria, and Mario Bauza, to name a few. He also hosts Vermont Public's Friday Night Jazz.
JOE McGINNESS is one of country music’s best kept secrets, with his creative, catchy songwriting and energetic performances rivaling many of his industry peers. Joe grew up in the Champlain Valley of Vermont and Upstate NY, and was introduced to music by his family at a very young age. Through many years of playing music professionally, Joe crafted his own unique style of country music. His most recent single is "Forever, I Will." He has shared the stage with many top artists - Frankie Ballard, Granger Smith, Dylan Scott, Old Dominion and others. For Joe’s Ballard Park appearance, the new age country rising star will share the stage with his teenage sons, CHASE and BO McGINNESS, as they open the show for their father.
Past Acts
The 2024 Ballard Park Concert Series is currently unavailable, but will return to our website soon.
Kat Wright
July 6, 2023 @7pm
Kat Wright, Bob Wagner (guitar) and Josh Weinstein (bass) lean into their trio formation, showcasing their folky / rootsy selves, all stripped down, a triangulation of their strengths, their bareness, their imperfect humanness, their voices, their ferocious tenderness, their love of songs and singing and story.
Host of the popular roots music history podcast American Songcatcher, Nicholas Edward Williams is a multi-instrumentalist and storyteller who is dedicated to "playing it forward" by preserving the songs and styles that have shaped our country: ragtime, Piedmont blues, traditional folk, old time and early country. Grammy-winning musician David Holt says of Williams: "With tasteful guitar arrangements and a voice that draws you right in, Nicholas’ recordings roll along like a mountain stream.”
Nicholas Edward Williams
July 20, 2023 @7pm
Annual Petey Cerf Memorial Concert
Meadowmount, a world-renowned summer strings school in Westport, joins Ballard Park for its annual student concert and in recognition of the generosity of Petey Cerf, founder of the Park and a long-time friend to Meadowmount.Students focus on solo performance and chamber music, with each student playing in a string quartet. Two such string quartets will be showcased in Meadowmount’s Ballard Park concert.
Meadowmount
August 3, 2023 @7pm
Ryan Clark
August 17, 2023 @7pm
Take one listen to up-and-comer Ryan Clark, and the upstate New York native’s easy-going, melodies - paired with effortless, smooth vocals - make it clear he’s found his sonic sweet spot. Clark’s music - inspired by artists like Dan + Shay, John Mayer, Sam Hunt and Jack Johnson - quickly found its place in his hometown of Lake George and migrated south to Nashville in 2019. The singer-songwriter has since celebrated a series of successful releases. Clark’s up-beat single “Feels Like” is out now and he’s coming to Ballard Park as part of his national album tour.
Studio Two
SATURDAY, July 1, 2023 @7pm
Westport Day
Beatles Tribute Band
Studio Two captures all of the excitement and danceable 50's and 60's Rock 'n' Roll songs The Beatles helped popularize. All of this is done in period correct attire and equipment. You will be transported in time!
July 13, 2023 - Canceled Due to Weather
Myra Flynn
Myra Flynn will come to Ballard Park after headlining the 2023 Burlington Discover Jazz festival with a blockbuster concert celebration the release of her powerful new album, “Roar of the Queen.” In this album Myra takes on her own Black legacy, and reaches back to the soulful sounds of the 80s that inspire her music and lift her spirit. This Vermont rising stars blends soulful vocals with an engaging stage presence, and she maintains a busy performance schedule in Vermont, New York City and Los Angeles, in addition to hosting an Emmy-nominated show on Vermont Public. Myra’s indie/folk/soul vocal stylings have been compared to the likes of Erykah Badu, Janet Jackson, Leela James, and Alicia Keys, and she counts Joni Mitchell among her lyrical influences.
Sometimes the best company is a night spent with great neighbors. These beloved, hard-working North Country Reber Rock musicians and friends return to Ballard Park with traditional bluegrass and eclectic sounds, covering all the music you most love. Come for a relaxed evening of great rhythm and sound under the Perseid meteor showers and a crescent moon!
Ploughman’s Lunch
August 10, 2023 @7pm
July 6, 2022 @ 7pm
Mile 12 -
Progressive Bluegrass
2023
Mile Twelve is a modern string band from Boston, Massachusetts. Winners of the 2020 IBMA New Artist of the Year award, they have been making waves in the acoustic music world with their seamless blend of expertly-crafted songs, creative arrangements, and virtuosic execution. The band takes their name from the mile marker that sits at Boston’s southern border, a road sign they’ve passed countless times while heading out on tour.
July 14, 2022 @ 7pm
Will Patton Ensemble - Jazz Mandolin
Best known as a multi-instrumentalist, composer and band leader. Will has performed, written and composed music for over 30 years, including genres such as Celtic, jazz, rock and roll, bluegrass and Brazilian choro. His talents as a jazz bassist and mandolinist have led to featured performances and teaching engagements from Fairbanks, Alaska to Paris. His quintet includes mandolin, violin, guitar, flute, clarinet and string bass, and covers Gypsy jazz and Brazilian styles as well as straight up bebop and many original compositions, along with Will’s entertaining and informative narrative.
July 28, 2022 @ 7pm
Ray Vega -
Latin Jazz Trumpet
Professor Vega returns to Ballard Park to continue our jazz education! Bronx-born renowned trumpeter, percussionist, composer, and arranger Ray Vega presents jazz from a refreshingly original and contemporary perspective and is a veteran of numerous great Latin bands, including Tito Puente, and has performed with artists such as Lionel Hampton, Mel Torme, Paul Simon, The Duke Ellington Orchestra, and The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, among numerous others. He’s also a University Scholar at UVM, where he is a popular teacher of trumpet and jazz history, and coaches jazz ensembles.
August 11, 2022 @ 7pm
Cricket Blue -
Indie Folk String
You might think of Simon & Garfunkel when you first hear Cricket Blue, or Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. But their music is equally evocative of literary voices: Alice Munro. Dylan Thomas. Flannery O’Connor. Even a touch of Edward Gorey. NPR calls Cricket Blue “master storytellers” and the All Scene Eye says Cricket Blue “sets 3 new standard for fiction-folk.” They were voted “Best Folk Group” in Vermont’s Seven Daysie Awards and they’ve played stages and folk festivals around the United States and Canada. To bring their orchestral vision to fife, Cricket Blue plays with string trio: John Dunlop, Laura Markowitz, and Sofia Hirsch (Vermont Symphony Orchestra and Eclectica String Quartet).
Moved to the Whallonsburg Grange Hall at 7:00 pm tonight due to forecasted rain.
Whallonsburg Grange Hall - 1610 NY-22, Essex, NY 12936
Studio Two is a headlining Beatles tribute band, comprised of Berklee School of Music Alumni who focus on the most exciting, energetic period of The Beatles -- the early years. Choosing from a catalog of songs from their club and touring performances, Studio Two captures all of the excitement and danceable ’50s and ’60s Rock & Roll songs that The Beatles helped popularize. All of this is done in period correct attire and equipment. You will be transported in time!
July 21, 2022 @ 7pm
HEARD WORLD MUSIC
Heard is a collective of musicians that bring their skills and passion for world music, jazz and improvising together to create irresistible grooves set in a unique sonic tapestry. Together for over a decade, their vibrant sound incorporates influences from West Africa, Brazil, the Caribbean and beyond. Energetic & upbeat, Heard will open your ears & hearts.. and always gets the people of Ballard Park up and dancing!
Annual Petey Cerf Memorial Concert
Meadowmount, a world-renowned summer strings school in Westport, joins Ballard Park for its annual student concert and in recognition of the generosity of Petey Cerf, founder of the Park and a long-time friend to Meadowmount.
August 4, 2022 @ 7pm
Meadowmount School -
String Quartet
August 18, 2022 @ 7pm
Big Hat, No Cattle
Western Swing & Honky Tonk
With guitars, steel guitar, fiddle, and smooth vocals up front, Big Hat, No Cattle plays old and new songs with a vintage Western vibe. Danceable and fun Western swing is a rich melting pot of styles, including swing-era jazz, honky-tonk country, frontier fiddle tunes, cowboy songs and more. Based in Central Vermont, the quartet features a variety of songs and tunes that lift the spirits—and dancing feet-in full Western style!.
Concerts are free to all, thanks to our many supporters!
This project is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrants program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by the Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts. Generous grants have also been contributed through Cerf-Dunbar Fund, Cloudsplitter Foundation; Essex County Arts Council’s Cultural Assistance Program grant with funding from Essex County; Rogers-Carroll Family Foundation; and many individual supporters.
Past Acts
2021
July 8, 2021 - Studio Two
7:00pm
Bronx-born renowned trumpeter, percussionist, composer, and arranger Ray Vega presents jazz from a refreshingly original and contemporary perspective and is a veteran of numerous great Latin bands, including Tito Puente, and has performed with artists such as Lionel Hampton, Mel Torme, Paul Simon, The Duke Ellington Orchestra, and The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, among numerous others. He’s also a University Scholar at UVM, where he is a popular teacher of trumpet and jazz history, and coaches jazz ensembles. Come to Ballard Park to study some rhythm with Professor Vega!
July 22, 2021 - Ray Vega
7:00pm
Vermont’s Addison County group Va-et-vient (‘Come & Go’) celebrates the many colors found in music from several French cultures. These musicians will take you through the centuries from France to Québec and New Orleans with lively dance numbers, touching love songs, kickin’ Cajun and Créole tunes, and rollicking Québecois favorites.
August 5, 2021 - Va-et-vient
7:00pm
July 15, 2021 - Paul Asbell Jazz Quintet
7:00pm
Legendary guitarist Paul Asbell, master of jazz, folk, rock, blues and everything in between, has been bringing music to Lake Champlain since the '70s, with Kilimanjaro, Big Joe Burrell and the Unknown Blues Band, his student Trey Anastasio, and now with the Paul Asbell Jazz Quintet, a sophisticated and wide ranging group rooted in the sounds and artistry of the Champlain Valley.
July 29, 2021 - Will Patton Ensemble
7:00pm
They will take you on a musical journey from a Parisian bistro to a plaza in the heart of Rio, and back home again to your front porch. Features jazz/choro mandolinist Will Patton with a symphony violinist who also plays bluegrass and hot swing, add a string bass player who came of age working the Chicago blues clubs with the likes of Howlin' Wolf and Buddy Guy; a guitarist equally at home with flatpicking fiddle tunes and fiery Gypsy jazz solos, supported by a contradance clarinetist also adept at Balkan dance music. The highly experienced Ensemble deftly blends fiery Brazilian sambas and folk waltzes, gentle chords and hot Gypsy jazz into a seamless whole, focusing on high energy improvisation and group interaction.
August 12, 2021 - HEARD
7:00pm
Heard is a collective of musicians that bring their skills and passion for world music, jazz and improvising together to create irresistible grooves set in a unique sonic tapestry. Together for a decade, their vibrant sound incorporates influences from West Africa, Brazil, the Caribbean and beyond. Their debut CD Karibu reached #15 on the WorldJazz charts and 2018's daring Flyway is similarly garnering much critical acclaim. Energetic & upbeat, HEARD will open your ears & hearts…and get you up and dancing! . More about HEARD.
For over two decades Atlantic Crossing have been rocking the contra dance halls of New England and beyond and entrancing concert audiences with paintings in song of local history and more. Their music, drawn from the Celtic traditions of the British Isles as well as from Maritime and French Canada, lifts audiences from their seats, transports dancers to ever greater delight and strikes joyous notes at celebrations.
Friday September 3, 2021 - Atlantic Crossing
Concert sponsorships are available. Inquire at ballardparkny@gmail.com