Let’s Celebrate!

Sep 22

The Mansfield Downtown Partnership invites area residents and visitors to gather in Downtown Storrs on Saturday, September 30 for the 20th ANNUAL CELEBRATE MANSFIELD FESTIVAL!

Enjoy a day full of music, food, and fun as we celebrate the people, businesses, and community organizations that make Mansfield a special place. The Festival will take place from 2:00 PM to 8:00 PM on and around Betsy Paterson Square in Downtown Storrs. This event is free and open to everyone!

Mansfield businesses and community organizations and UConn departments, programs, and student groups will offer a variety of hands-on fun for all ages at booths set-up along Dog Lane, Royce Circle, and Wilbur Cross Way. Local crafters and artists will have works available for purchase in the “Craft Corner” on Dog Lane. Activity and craft booths will be open from 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM.

There will be music, magic, and puppetry performances throughout the day. New this year will be the Waldron’s Studio 88 Stage featuring performances by local musicians from 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM. The stage will be located in the “Craft Corner” on Dog Lane.

*Pete Haddad, shown here in 2022, will perform his Hubba Bubba Magic Show at 3:45 PM and 5:30 PM in the Kids’ Zone (Laura Stone Photography)*

In the “Kids’ Zone” on Wilbur Cross Way, there will be a variety of children’s entertainment in addition to activities and games for kids. Performances include Kidsville Kuckoo Revue (2:30 PM), Pete Haddad’s Hubba Bubba Magic Show (3:45 PM and 5:30 PM), and An Hour of Clown with Anthony Sellitto-Budney (4:30 PM).

One of the more unique features of the Festival each year is our Community Puppet Pageant! Together with the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry, the Partnership will host a free Community Puppet-Building Workshop on Saturday, Sept. 23 and Sunday, Sept. 24. Participants will create larger-than-life puppets under the guidance of Sara Peattie of Boston’s Puppeteers Cooperative. They will then perform in the Reading the Book of Mansfield puppet pageant at the Celebrate Mansfield Festival (2:30 PM). No puppetry experience is needed; everyone is welcome! Learn more and register at https://bimp.ticketleap.com/2023-cmf.

*In 2022, audience members sampled the tasty creations following each cooking demo by UConn Dining chefs (Laura Stone Photography)*

Also returning this year are the popular cooking demos by award-winning chefs from UConn Dining Services. The demos will take place on Dog Lane. Production Chef Kyle Davis will prepare Sweet and Spicy Pad Thai at 2:30 PM, while Assistant Director of Culinary Development Robert Landolphi will prepare Chili Crisp Pork Belly with Wild Mushrooms and Mascarpone Polenta at 3:30 PM.

With your fresh inspiration from the demos, head over to Storrs Farmers Market to stock up on late summer produce and early fall favorites. Or, pick up some ready-to-eat treats and enjoy a locally-sourced picnic on the Square. The Market will be open from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM at the Town Hall (4 S. Eagleville Road).

Throughout the full event, food booths and food trucks will be open on Royce Circle and Bolton Road Ext., with a variety of tasty treats to keep you fueled up for fun. Additionally, there are over twenty downtown restaurants featuring a variety of cuisines from around the globe, all within a five-minute walk of Betsy Paterson Square.

*Seldom Heard will perform at 3:00 PM on the main stage of Betsy Paterson Square (Photo by Peter Polomski)*

On Betsy Paterson Square, there will be live entertainment throughout the day, starting with the Community Puppet Pageant at 2:30 PM. Seldom Heard will take the stage at 3:00 PM. Seldom Heard is an acoustic trio based in Mansfield and features Howard Drescher (guitar, vocals), Lee Terry (mandolin, vocals), and Tom Terry (upright bass, vocals). Their repertoire includes their own original tunes as well as new takes on old favorites of Americana music drawn from folk, popular, and soft rock traditions. They are all singers and especially enjoy harmonizing with tight vocals.

Following Seldom Heard will be the UConn Jazz Quintet at 4:00 PM. Sarah DiMiceli, Christopher Dexter, Michael Farina, Brendan McManus, and Jack Sherman are students in the School of Fine Arts at UConn. Designed for aspiring jazz musicians, UConn’s Bachelor of Music in Jazz provides real-world experiences and foundational training, equipping students with the skills and versatility needed to pursue careers as performers, composers, arrangers, and conductors.

New this year: The Mansfield Downtown Partnership will offer limited-edition t-shirts for sale in commemoration of the 20th Annual celebration of Mansfield! T-shirts will be available for purchase while supplies last at the Partnership’s booth, which will be on Royce Circle. The shirts will cost $20; cash only, please.

Another new attraction in recognition of the twentieth anniversary is the “What We Love About Mansfield” oral history project, for which residents and friends are invited to lend their voice. Share what makes this community special to you as part of a video that will be unveiled at the Partnership’s Winter Welcome on Saturday, Dec. 2. Interviews will take place indoors at 40 Wilbur Cross Way, in the “Kids’ Zone” section of the Festival. Sign up for a short interview spot (15-min max) on the Festival website (downtownstorrsfestival.org/oralhistory).

Taking place in the same building, an art exhibition comprised of works by University of Connecticut students celebrates themes of community, identity, and personal narratives. Visitors are invited to partake in an interactive, collaborative drawing piece led by students in the space from 2:00 to 6:00 PM. All of the materials will be provided.

*Zikina will perform at 5:00 PM on the main stage on Betsy Paterson Square (Photo courtesy of Zikina)*

At 5:00 PM, enjoy a performance by Zikina on the main stage at Betsy Paterson Square!

Mansfield resident Gideon Ampeire has been performing internationally for almost 20 years as a bandleader, instrumentalist, singer, dancer, educator, and master instrument maker. For over a decade, he has been the leader of Echo Uganda, a group that has spread traditional Ugandan folk music throughout the northeast US and beyond, including an appearance at the United Nations. In 2015, Gideon met up with Western MA producer and guitarist Mike Cardozo, who has performed and recorded for nearly a decade in a variety of acts. Gideon and Mike shared the bond of having studied West African drumming at Wesleyan University under legendary professor Abraham Adzenyah. Berklee School of Music graduate

Roston Kirk and Connecticut drummer Kurt Eisele-Dyrli rounded out the group, and what began as a casual set of jam sessions started to progress into something special that stretched musical boundaries in a unique way.

Today, Zikina forges ahead, continuing to imaginatively blend Gideon's musical and cultural heritage with the wide palette of sounds and ideas that each member brings to the table.

*The Wollf Sisters will close out the 2023 Celebrate Mansfield Festival with a performance from 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM. (Photo courtesy of The Wolff Sister)*

At 6:00 PM, everyone is invited to grab some dinner and head to Betsy Paterson Square for our closing performance by The Wolff Sisters!

The Wolff Sisters is fronted by three sisters – Rebecca on acoustic guitar, Kat on the keys, Rachael on electric guitar, and all three on lead vocals and harmonies. Raised on Bob Dylan, The Band, and Little Feat, the sisters crafted their sound around a honky tonk piano in the living room of their childhood home. With a talented cast of rotating drummers and bass players, The Wolff Sisters are a rag tag group of hardworking individuals that bring a big sound and timeless songs. Their music is honest and genre defying, but still rooted in traditional rock and Americana storytelling. New England Music Award winner for Americana Artist of the Year (2021), the band’s electrifying live performance and unique sound continues to gain momentum and recognition from their hometown of Boston and beyond. The band is on tour promoting their fourth studio album Dark River.

The Wolff Sisters will perform from 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM on the stage of the Jeffrey P. Ossen Family Foundation Pavilion on Betsy Paterson Square.

Limited seating is available on the Square. You are welcome to bring a blanket or a lawn chair.

Please note: Alcohol and smoking/vaping are prohibited on the Square.

The Mansfield Downtown Partnership produces the Celebrate Mansfield Festival each fall with the support of our generous sponsors. The 2023 Platinum Sponsors are:

Barnes & Noble UConn

Gulemo Printers, Inc.

The Oaks on the Square

Wilcox & Reynolds Insurance

The Partnership thanks its 2023 Gold Sponsors: Town of Mansfield; University of Connecticut; E. O. Smith High School; CHET, Connecticut’s Higher Education Trust; The M&T Charitable Foundation; Mansfield OB/GYN; Merchants at Storrs Center; National Institute and Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine (NICABM); Price Chopper; and WILI.