WARWICK — Phil Simon has been working in the music business for more than 25 years while owning Old 78 Farm with his wife, Angel. Because of his love of music, he remembers how he used to always be on the lookout for possible festival venues.
“We would frequently drive down the road and I’d point out beautiful pieces of property where you could hold a festival,” Phil Simon said.
Then, one day in 2010, he began to look at his own property, located at 823 Orange Road, with the same mindset.
“We were working in the yard and I just kind of said the same thing. ‘People could park here, we’ll have the stage over there,’” Simon remembers. “(Angel) just looked up from her raking and said, ‘This is the year, what day are we doing it?’”
Ever since, Phil Simon, Angel Simon and Angel’s mother Lynn Englen have worked together to organize the annual Old 78 Farm Fall Festival (http://old78farm.com/). The seventh annual festival will be held Saturday, Oct. 1, from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Simon said the festival focuses on music, crafters, art and food while providing a family-friendly vibe. All musical acts and craft vendors are from Massachusetts.
“The idea is to bring together elements of all the things that we do here at the farm while celebrating the fall,” Simon said. “It helps us to get through a New England winter, but it also helps us create a sense of community.”
Organizing the festival has largely become a family affair. As owner of Simon Says Booking in Orange, Phil Simon is able to book musicians to play on two stages starting at noon until the festival’s end. Angel Simon and Lynn Englen co-own Old 78 Clothing, and will be selling clothing made from recycled material.
Additionally, Phil Simon’s brother Eric will sell locally sourced barbecue, and his sister Jennifer, a theatrical lighting designer, is involved in decorating the property with Tiki torches and a wide variety of lights. Produce grown at the farm will also be for sale.
This year’s music lineup includes an eclectic mix of genres and eight bands: the children’s band Shiprock & Anchordog; the Northampton-based, jazz-inspired funk band The Mary Jane Jones; the Fitchburg-based bluegrass band Secret Sage; rice: An American Band out of Warwick; the blues and R&B band Good Lord the Liftin’; the reggae rock band Rebel Alliance; Bella’s Bartok, a nationally-touring folk punk band; and the hard rock band Outer Stylie.
Simon himself sings and plays guitar as a member of rice: An American Band.
“We are truly a Warwick band,” Simon said. “I think that’s an important part of the festival, that we can provide some local music.”
Ash Street Puppetworks of Manchester, N.H., and Pixie Belle the Clown, who Simon describes as “the Michelangelo of face painting,” will entertain children.
Aside from artwork, like a new mural of the farm’s original logo (an angry chicken), Simon said the festival requires little decoration.
“By the time Oct. 1 rolls around, mother nature has taken care of (decorating) for us,” he said, describing how beautifully colored leaves will fall onto the tarps above the stages, giving the appearance of a leaf mural.
“We achieve a pretty amazing venue, given that we’re in the woods of Warwick,” he added.
Simon said the event has grown each year, attracting around 100 residents in 2010 and around 500 residents in 2015. It is held rain or shine.
The cultural councils of Athol, Orange, Warwick, New Salem, Petersham and Winchendon all sponsor the event, along with commercial sponsors like Orange Innovation Center, Crocker Communications, Montague WebWorks and Two Sisters Carpet and Floor Care. Anyone from the six sponsoring towns can get into the festival for $10 in advance or at the gate, though nonresidents will need to pay $15 at the gate.
For more information, contact Phil Simon by phone at 978-544-1845 or by email at aenglen@hotmail.com.