Luna Light Festival July 11-13 Barto, PA
by Larissa Nemeth
photos by OwlEyesOnYou
Arriving at the parking lot for the Luna Light Music & Arts festival on a Friday afternoon, it was clear that my traveling companion and I were in for a great adventure. There were a few clouds on the horizon but overall the air was warm and clear and full of promise for the days to come.
We hopped on the shuttle bus from the parking to the festival grounds and arrived in time to see Particle on the main stage, which was adorned with a crazy white lunar/solar geometric art installation that would host amazing projections for the night-time sets. They had a great energy and presence for kicking off our Luna Light experience. They even closed with a rendition of the theme from Beverly Hills Cop, which was super cool as a bluesy jam. The evening rolled around and the grounds really came to life. There were several cool art and light installations spread across the open field and through the woods which were awesome to explore.
I really love festivals that have forested areas. There is something about the sonic quality of music among trees, plus it offers welcome respite from the elements. The private farm called Hex Hollow in Barto, Pennsylvania that was gracious enough to host this gathering had a terrific combination open air fields and rambling woods. Friday night’s main event was Shpongle. People flooded the main stage and one staffer asked after the set, “So you guys just saw Shpongle, is your third eye opening?” We called it an early night on Friday but we were set to go on Saturday for round 2.
We watched some acts like Manifested on the side stages that were in the forest. The more electronic sound showed the cool variety of acts selectied for this event. Mid-afternoon Pigeons Playing Ping Pong took the main stage and killed it, they were my favorite performers of the weekend. They played “F.U.N.K.” and even jammed on the Mario theme song which was a ton of fun to dance to! The Heavy Pets followed with their blues-rock played to perfection and paved the main stage for the headliners of the evening, Lettuce. All the groovy souls poured out of the forest for the set which was laid back and funk-laced, a perfect cap off to an amazing weekend.
There were also late night bluegrass sets by the Brummy Brothers in the woods which was a sweet mellow way to close out the night. We danced, caught frogs and lightning bugs, and were even allowed to play with one of the staff member’s remotes that controlled a light installation with as he put it, “4,000 settings, man!”.
We were overwhelmed with how friendly the festival staff was and how dedicated they were to keeping the grounds green and clean. The food and other vendors were only a few in number but did a wonderful job of selling affordable quality goods. The NY Pizza stand even made rounds giving out free pizza, which was a major plus for us!
The real treat of the weekend was enjoying a full “super moon” on Friday and Saturday night which reminded us of the connection to our fellow festi-goers and the reason why the event was orchestrated. It was a beautiful coming-together of souls and I can’t wait to see what they have in store for next year.
