Dam Show: Music, Art, Poetry
Festival Next Weekend In Austin

Steve Quelet, nationally known folk/country singer and songwriter, will debut four songs based on reallife experiences from the Austin flood of 1911. Quelet's new band is Jakob's Hollow. Photo by Lugene C. Heimel

Music, art, poetry and history will be in the air during the annual Dam Show, set for Sept. 9-10 at the Austin Dam Memorial Park.

The weekend features talented musicians delivering country, bluegrass, blues, rock, Dixie, folk, jazz and more.

Topping the bill are these nationally known recording artists: Redheaded Stepchild, a favorite of bluegrass and folk shows throughout the Northeast; high-energy blues guitarist TommyZ and his band, from Buffalo, N.Y.; Buddhahood, a powerhouse festival band from Rochester, N.Y., with a rich mix of percussion, horns, keyboards and stringed instruments; and Jakob's Hollow, an acoustic trio comprised of local musicians Steve Quelet, Eppie Bailey and Judy Shunk.

The Jakob's Hollow set will be especially fitting. The band will introduce four new songs composed based on real-life experiences from the tragic Austin flood of 1911.

Others slated to perform are: Coudersport-based singer and songwriter Larry Herbstritt and Friends; The Original Jazz Band, featuring Gary Lidge on keyboards and Thomas Presha on bass; University of Pittsburgh African Drumming Club, performing West African drumming, singing, and dancing; and Brother Dietze and the Dixie Boys, delivering upbeat Dixieland jazz, sprinkled with gospel classics and old-time standards.

For the younger set, the Dam Show features the debut of The Slant, a rock band with local roots and a broad repertoire. Also performing will be Sasala, Seiderman and Bradley, a young jazz trio from Potter County and Corning, N.Y., featuring trumpet and saxophones, and the Essence in Motion dancers.

The Dam Show is slated to run from 2:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. both days. On both nights, there will be a wide, colorful light show across the face of the dam ruins, thanks to lighting specialists Groovin' Lumens.

Some special arts activities are also planned. Attendees will be able to add their painted touches to canvases and other objects to produce an on-site art display.

Festival goers are also invited to write and read poetry under the Dam Poet Tree. Some of the poets will be invited to read their works on the main stage between bands.

This year's festival also includes an audience participation vocal set. The Dam Show Choir will assemble onstage Saturday to fill the Freeman Run Valley with singing. All singers are welcome.

There will be activities for children, including horsedrawn wagon rides, and a variety of food booths and other vendors setting up both days. Primitive camping is also available. Visitors are advised to bring lawn chairs or blankets, with seating on a first-come, first-served basis.

Tickets are for sale for $15 (one-day), $25 (two-day), $30 (one-day family), or $45 (twoday family) at Olga's Living with Art in Coudersport or at the show.

The ruins of the Austin Dam - tall, wide columns spaced across the floor of the Freeman Run valley - are the backdrop of a natural amphitheater. Those same concrete blocks also form the canopy for the colorful light show.

The access road to the Austin Dam Memorial Park is being widened and stabilized to accommodate Dam Show traffic. A free shuttle bus will also run between a parking area at the Austin Area School to the park.

Organizers of the Dam Show believe the event has the potential to become the region's premier music and arts festival, leading up to a major event in 2011. That year marks the centennial of the tragic Austin flood of 1911, when on Sept. 30 the massive dam gave way, releasing a torrent that killed upwards of 80 people and nearly wiped out Austin.

The Austin Dam Memorial Association and the Potter County Fine Arts Council established the Dam Show as a tribute to the resolve of the Austin townspeople to recover from adversity, and as a symbol of a bright future.