September 2003 – Go to Pet Rock V, stART in the Street 2003, the Wachusett Mountain Music Festival, wormfest 2003, Locobazooka 2003

Start off the new semester with a bang by going to one or all of the festivals that are on tap this September in the Worcester area. There’s something for everyone — and in the case of Pet Rock, for their animals too.

Pet Rock, a massive annual benefit for animals drew record numbers in 2000 to the festival’s site at the Hebert Candy Mansion in Auburn. Because of the growing response, the festival had to find a new home. According to Charlene Arsenault, co-founder of the festival, “Quinsigamond Community College was kind enough to adopt us.”

This year’s festival will be held Sunday, Sept. 7, [rain date, Sept. 14] from noon to 5 p.m., at Quinsigamond. Pet Rock V will be sponsored by Hebert Candies, the Sterling Animal Shelter and Worcester Magazine.

According to Arsenault, Pet Rock raised in the vicinity of $30,000 last year. The event bought three vests for Mass. Vest-a-Dog, and presented a $1,000 check to the MSPCA for Pet Rock’s “Paul Mitchell law enforcement award.” $6,000 was given to the Sterling Animal Shelter, purchasing a monitoring unit for their VCA Clinic. NAHEE got $6,000, putting the Kind News program into 245 Central Massachusetts schools. The MSPCA received $6,000. Two lottery winners – Save a Dog and Love a Golden — each received $500 from the Pet Rock Fest.

“We can only predict more this year — benefiting more animal welfare organizations, and educating the public on the importance of humane animal treatment,” Arsenault says. “More than 100 animal welfare organizations are signed up to participate already – from rescue groups to shelters to those who fight for animals in the courts.”

Pet Rock V will feature contests, exhibits, food vendors (vegetarian), kids activities, and live music by Pet Rock (the band), The Belmondos, Mossberg, The Baxters and headliners Babaloo. More than 200 animal organizations will be represented.

Check out www.petrockfest.com for continuous updates.

The Fabulous Thunderbirds

Also on the weekend of September 6-7, Wachusett Mountain Ski Area in Princeton, MA will present the annual Wachusett Mountain Music Festival starring the well-known blues band, “The Fabulous Thunderbirds”.

Local and regional jam bands will also rock the mountain during Saturday’s Rocktoberfest, sponsored by Wachusett Brewery. Participating bands will include local favorites Clutch Grabwell, Pinch, the Ferns and Chris Fitz. The Thunderbirds will headline the BluesFest portion of the Festival on Sunday, an event that was voted the “Number One Blues Festival in New England” by The Blues Audience. The T-birds, who have toured with such blues greats as BB King, will be joined by other blues performers including Bellevue Cadillac, Guitar Shorty, James Armstrong, Nicole Nelson and up and coming star Gracie Morrison.

Events will be held from noon to 6 p.m. both days. Admission prices are: Saturday, $12 at the door, Sunday, $25 at the door. Discounted advance tickets are available on-line at www.wachusett.com.

Wormfest II, a free showcase of Central Massachusetts bands, will be held September 13 at Institute Park in Worcester. According to organizers, the event is “a celebration of the local music scene…of bands, and others, that have made a community for themselves in and around the city that they fondly refer to as ‘Wormtown’.”

Organizers say the event was created to provide an opportunity for local bands to perform in front of a wider audience, and to allow the public to experience flourishing local talent at a price that is accessible to all.

Institute Park is close to downtown Worcester, just north of Highland Street. It is bordered by Salisbury Street on the south, Park Avenue on the west, Runford Avenue on the north, and Humboldt Avenue on the east.

Participants are invited to bring a blanket and a picnic lunch and come enjoy some great music!

The second annual stART on the Street, the brainchild of the group the Worcester ARTists (wART), will be held on September 21 in downtown Worcester to showcase the city’s evolving Arts District.

According to a wART press release, the group hopes to “organize and promote local artists’ interests through support of and participation in the creation of an active Arts District. The Worcester ARTists’s first goal is to focus attention on the Arts District by bringing their creative talents and energy directly to the people through a celebration of the arts in the Arts District. The concept for an artist-driven block party/street festival was born, and stART on the street began!”

For information and to take part in stART on the Street, www.startonthestreet.org.

Locobazooka, an annual music festival that has been held in Worcester’s Green Hill Park for the last few years, is also moving this year. The 2003 Locobazooka will be held Sunday September 28 at Fitchburg Airport, 567 Crawford Street .

The radio station WAAF will kick off the event. Participating bands slated to perform include Staind, Hed Pe, Smile Empty Soul, Revis, Cave In, Ra, Motograter, Shadows Fall, Superkollider, Changing Skin, Burn, 6 Degrees, Drop Out, Sorry Orange, Average White Boys and Dogfight.

The gates will open at 10 a.m. for the all day event which will be held rain or shine. Tickets are $37.50. For more information, log on to www.locobazooka.com