The 37th annual Festival on-the-Green, a gala of music and fun, kicked off its week-long run on Sunday evening with a blues and country performance by Caroline Rose. The festival hosted two evening performance and a noon-time “Brown Bag Lunch” on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at the Middlebury Recreational Park, where the event was moved last year in anticipation of bridge work next to the green.
Even with a little rain on Tuesday afternoon, the crowds were appreciative of a diverse collection of entertainers.
In addition to Rose, they included folk singer Rik Palieri during Monday’s Brown Bag Lunch with the Candian trio Ten Strings And A Goat Skin (that’s a four-stringed fiddle, a six-string guitar and a Celtic drum called a bodhran), and the roadhouse blues band The 24th Street Wailers out of Toronto on Monday evening.
Tuesday featured the popular circus performer Stephen Gratto at noon. The evening entertainment was delivered by local jazz favorite The Miles Donahue Quintet followed by folk/indie-rock group Darlingside. The No Strings Marionette Company enchanted the kids on Wednesday afternoon and Vermont native Caitlin Canty and the folky Mike & Ruthy Band closed out Wednesday’s shows.
The festival continues with shows the rest of the week. Here’s the schedule:
Thursday, July 9
Noon Robert and Gigi (sing-a-long)
7:00 PM The Bluegrass Gospel Project (bluegrass)
8:30 PM Heather Maloney (folk/indie-rock)
Friday, July 10
Noon Tom Verner (magician)
7:00 PM Vance Gilbert (folk)
8:30 PM Ray Vega and Tales from the Boogie Down (jazz)
Saturday, July 11
7:00 PM Vermont Jazz Ensemble Big Band Lawn Dance (jazz) 
24TH STREET WAILERS drummer and lead vocalist Lindsay Beaver leans in to Jonny Wong’s amazing sax solo during Monday night’s show.
Independent photographer/Trent Campbell