The Annual Hessler Street Fair Celebrates Peace, Love and the 60s

Hessler

Sat 5/21-Sun 5/22

Come out and be a hippie for a day or two, or if you are a hippie every day, it’s your annual opportunity to celebrate with your kind at the Hessler Street Fair, a little slice of the past. The ambiance harks back to the year the festival began, 1969, on the one-block brick-paved street on the Case Western Reserve campus that has somehow escaped the rampant development there today.

It took a decade-long break from the mid ’80s to the mid ’90s, but resumed in 1995 with its attitude intact. You won’t find cheap junk made in China or vendors who do the fair and festival circuit. You WILL find local artists who make their own tie-dyed garments and pottery, and street residents selling lemonade and baked goods. In addition to the food and crafts, there’s a section devoted to organizations and businesses advocating for various causes from peace to animal welfare. And there’s a large kids area, Harmony Park, with a dozens of low-tech, creative activities.

And of course there’s the music. Some of the performers are eagerly anticipated regulars who have come back year after year: the JiMiller Band, the jam-style band that closes the Saturday festival, and Carlos Jones & the P.L.U.S. Band, who close Sunday evening with their upbeat reggae. Starting at 11am each day, there’s a full roster of folk, blues, jazz, rock, funk, Afrobeat, bluegrass and more, with local favorites like folkie Alex Bevan, the Revolution Brass Band, swamp rockers Cats on Holiday and the omnipresent singer/songwriter/rocker Brent Kirby.

The festival runs from 11am to dusk both days; you can get all the details and a full music schedule here. Yes, of COURSE it’s free. Wear some flowers in your hair, and if you forget, there’ll probably be a lady in a long flowing dress circulating and passing our flowers.

hesslerstreetfair.org

Cleveland, OH 44106

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