Festival Recap: The 2024 Karnival of the Arts in Kempton, PA 8/29-9/1
Groovin' Embers fire team
This past weekend Kollective Grounds hosted their annual four-day camping, music, and carnival-style festival at Kempton Fairgrounds in Kempton, PA, just west of Allentown. Karnival of the Arts is known for showcasing national, regional, and local acts, as well as live performers and local/regional artists, The festival hosts themed nights, carnival games & various attractions around the grounds, lighting up the place like a real carnival.
Over the course of the long weekend, festival goers meandered between campsites, the air-conditioned indoor hall, the stages, or visited craft and food vendors that offered everything from tasty eats & drinks, stylish threads, psychedelic art, stand-up comedy shows, mask-making, face painting, and fun playground activities for the kids in the Kids Zone all weekend hosted by the Inclusion Festival team, also with live flow and fire performances from the Groovin' Embers team across the campus all throughout the 4 days of outdoor evening music sets.
Over the course of the long weekend, festival goers meandered between campsites, the air-conditioned indoor hall, the stages, or visited craft and food vendors that offered everything from tasty eats & drinks, stylish threads, psychedelic art, stand-up comedy shows, mask-making, face painting, and fun playground activities for the kids in the Kids Zone all weekend hosted by the Inclusion Festival team, also with live flow and fire performances from the Groovin' Embers team across the campus all throughout the 4 days of outdoor evening music sets.
What the Odds? vocalist, Psalm
In its fifth year, the Karnival of the Arts presented another hard-hitting event which had night one featuring a two-hour intimate set from Hayley Jane followed by a later set from Philly folk favs, Darlingtyn, watch a clip of their set here. Friday, kicked off at noon with a set from rural PA songwriter/guitarist, Kylor Westbrook joined by his father on guitar, followed by a bumpin' set West Chester's Onyx&Honey at noon, watch a fun cover from their set here. Creatures of Content took the stage at 1:45pm back at the Funhouse Stage followed by a great set from Miss Cantaloupe on the Big Top stage, with some fun covers at 3pm, including the famous Beatles tune, 'Eight Days a Week', watch that here. The band also performed the single 'Trapped in a Tunnel' from their December 2023 album, Lemon Bops & Melon Drops, watch a clip of that here.
In the late afternoon we caught up with John Ferrara's synth and bass-lead project, Mono Means One, watch a clip of that set here. Then back at the Big Top stage, Karnival vets, Swaamp, filled the stage with an 8-piece configuration at 6pm for some brassy tunes. Solar Circuit returned to Karnival of the Arts and brought their high-energy jams back to the festival this year and performed an evening set on the Funhouse stage, check out a clip of their set here. The Friday main-event saw the headlining power trio of Consider the Source taking over the Big Top stage at 9pm for a long set of high-power instrumental jams, as only they can do. To cap off the night, we joined the late-night party with the always-fun Mums The Word, who were joined by special guest vocalists Rachael Green, Cassy Yost, and Miss Cantaloupe's Christina Klaproth for a special performance of 'Lady Marmalade' to close out the set.
In the late afternoon we caught up with John Ferrara's synth and bass-lead project, Mono Means One, watch a clip of that set here. Then back at the Big Top stage, Karnival vets, Swaamp, filled the stage with an 8-piece configuration at 6pm for some brassy tunes. Solar Circuit returned to Karnival of the Arts and brought their high-energy jams back to the festival this year and performed an evening set on the Funhouse stage, check out a clip of their set here. The Friday main-event saw the headlining power trio of Consider the Source taking over the Big Top stage at 9pm for a long set of high-power instrumental jams, as only they can do. To cap off the night, we joined the late-night party with the always-fun Mums The Word, who were joined by special guest vocalists Rachael Green, Cassy Yost, and Miss Cantaloupe's Christina Klaproth for a special performance of 'Lady Marmalade' to close out the set.
Saturday at Karnival of the Arts brought a performance from NJ's The Defending Champions, with crispy Grateful Dead jams up next from Deal, bringing out the afternoon Deadheads for a dance session. Baltimore area keyboardist Natalie Brooke made her return to KOTA and took the stage at 6pm for a great set of electronic synth-lead tunes, watch a clip from her set here. We then took in the raucous moos and antics of South Jersey's Red Meat Conspiracy to take us into the night, coupled with special fire performances during their set by the Groovin' Embers fire performers team.
Saturday night headliners, Magic Beans, came out swinging and made their debut at Karnival of the Arts, with a full set of jams on the Big Top stage, and like true circus carnival format, were accompanied by fire performers, live painting, and various flow artists throughout the stage area. For the final set of the night, we made our way up to the indoor hall to see a fun set from Bethlehem, PA's This Way to the Egress, who are indeed 'equal parts unruly vaudeville, ebullient world-beat & three ring circus'. To seal off night 3, we finally made our way to the silent disco in the campgrounds with Disco Wolf performing, hosted by the great folks at Hog Wild Productions, where we found dozens of people dancing around with headsets on, grooving out to a curated late-night set.
Saturday night headliners, Magic Beans, came out swinging and made their debut at Karnival of the Arts, with a full set of jams on the Big Top stage, and like true circus carnival format, were accompanied by fire performers, live painting, and various flow artists throughout the stage area. For the final set of the night, we made our way up to the indoor hall to see a fun set from Bethlehem, PA's This Way to the Egress, who are indeed 'equal parts unruly vaudeville, ebullient world-beat & three ring circus'. To seal off night 3, we finally made our way to the silent disco in the campgrounds with Disco Wolf performing, hosted by the great folks at Hog Wild Productions, where we found dozens of people dancing around with headsets on, grooving out to a curated late-night set.
Karnival Kids performing Happy
The final day of Karnival of the Arts brought out the Baltimore bands and the bluegrass, but we got started with the Karnival of the Arts Karnival Kids putting us all in a good mood performing the Pharrell Williams hit 'Happy', lead by the folks in Mums the Word. Ocean City, MD's 17-year-old singer/songwriter Callum Toner took the stage directly afterwards with her full-band project, 'Callum', followed up by Sussex, NJ's Uncle Stump, dishing out what their fans call 'mud funk' in the mid-afternoon on the Funhouse stage. We then caught up with The Dishonest Fiddlers on the Big Top stage cranking out some originals and fun bluegrass renditions of covers we all know and love.
After a short yet tasty dinner break, we returned to the Big Top stage for a super-fun set from Baltimore's Uncle Kunkle's One Gram Band, performing next Saturday 9/14 at the 11th Annual Jam on the Grass in Northeast Philadelphia with Steal Your Peach, Muscle Tough, Three Fourteen and more. Returning to the Funhouse stage as the sun was setting, we popped in on the relatively new band from the Wilmington, DE area, What are the Odds? who were the first ever Karnival of the Arts Battle of the Bands winner and performed a hard-hitting set of passionate, heavy tunes, with vocalist, Psalm, fitting the atmosphere dressed to resemble a clown, of course...watch a clip of their set here.
Baltimore's The Dirty Grass Players made their debut at Karnival of the Arts to close out the Big Top stage at 9pm with some great bluegrass jams and fun covers, including a Grateful Dead favorite, watch that here. To close out Karnival of the Arts, the party moved to the indoor hall at 11pm, with Philadelphia's Minka to take the stage shortly after for a wild party like only Minka can throw. We were no strangers to the final act of Karnival of the Arts, Baltimore area's Nester, as an instrumental quartet, including Natalie Brooke on keys, smacking us over the head with funky, cosmic psychedelia...watch a clip of their set here.
After a short yet tasty dinner break, we returned to the Big Top stage for a super-fun set from Baltimore's Uncle Kunkle's One Gram Band, performing next Saturday 9/14 at the 11th Annual Jam on the Grass in Northeast Philadelphia with Steal Your Peach, Muscle Tough, Three Fourteen and more. Returning to the Funhouse stage as the sun was setting, we popped in on the relatively new band from the Wilmington, DE area, What are the Odds? who were the first ever Karnival of the Arts Battle of the Bands winner and performed a hard-hitting set of passionate, heavy tunes, with vocalist, Psalm, fitting the atmosphere dressed to resemble a clown, of course...watch a clip of their set here.
Baltimore's The Dirty Grass Players made their debut at Karnival of the Arts to close out the Big Top stage at 9pm with some great bluegrass jams and fun covers, including a Grateful Dead favorite, watch that here. To close out Karnival of the Arts, the party moved to the indoor hall at 11pm, with Philadelphia's Minka to take the stage shortly after for a wild party like only Minka can throw. We were no strangers to the final act of Karnival of the Arts, Baltimore area's Nester, as an instrumental quartet, including Natalie Brooke on keys, smacking us over the head with funky, cosmic psychedelia...watch a clip of their set here.
Karnival of the Arts proves to be a big player in the regional festival scene with special, curated sets of new acts each year from all over the area, serving as the testing grounds for many young/new bands, while also contributing to their growth and exposure, Karnival of the Arts can be a big steppingstone of exposure. After five years, they have really spruced up the place, as they say. Everywhere we turned, we saw colorful people, art, and performers flooding the campus, with a slew of apparel and fabrics, wares, food vendors and carnival games spread along the walking paths. While we always love going to a show, it's hard to beat the smaller, concentrated action and pure spectacle that Karnival of the Arts always puts on. We know we'll be back next year for more...big thanks to Kollective Grounds for having us out!
Photo Sets
Day 1: Roux, Hayley Jane, Darlingtyn
Day 1: Roux, Hayley Jane, Darlingtyn
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Day 2: Kylor Westbrook, Creatures of Content, Miss Cantaloupe, Mono Means One, Swaamp, Solar Circuit, Consider the Source,
Mums the Word
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Day 3: The Defending Champions, DEAL, Natalie Brooke, Red Meat Conspiracy, Magic Beans, This Way to the Egress, Disco Wolf
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Day 4: Callum, Uncle Stump, The Dishonest Fiddlers, Uncle Kunkle's One Gram Band, What Are the Odds?, The Dirty Grass Players, Minka, Nester
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Next up: Find us at the 11th Annual Jam On The Grass Music Festival Saturday September 9th in northeast Philly
Grab tickets here: https://theticketing.co/e/jamonthegrass11
Grab tickets here: https://theticketing.co/e/jamonthegrass11
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