21st Annual Celebrate Mansfield Festival
Saturday, September 28 in Downtown Storrs
Birds” Community Puppet Pageant will take place at 2:30 PM at the Celebrate Mansfield Festival
The Mansfield Downtown Partnership invites area residents and visitors to gather in Downtown Storrs on Saturday, September 28 for the 21st 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 original 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. Look for the Waldron’s Studio 88 Stage featuring performances by local musicians from 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM in the “Craft Corner” on Dog Lane. 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 skills demos by students from Villlari’s Martial Arts (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 hosted a free Community Puppet-Building Workshop during which participants created larger-than-life puppets under the guidance of Sara Peattie of Boston’s Puppeteers Cooperative. They will perform in the puppet pageant entitled The Conference of the Birds on Betsy Paterson Square during the Celebrate Mansfield Festival (2:30 PM).
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. At 2:00 PM, Executive Chef Dan Malinak will prepare Orange Gochujang Chicken with Kimchi Mac and Cheese. Then at 3:00 PM, Assistant Director of Culinary Develop- ment Robert Landolphi will prepare Corn Cakes with Tajin Crème Fraiche and Smoked Salmon.
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 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.
On Betsy Paterson Square, there will be live entertainment throughout the day, starting with the Community Puppet Pageant at 2:30 PM. The UConn Jazz Septet will follow at 3:00 PM. The group features 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.
At 4:00 PM, Potato Soup will take the stage. Potato Soup was formed in early 2023 by four friends looking to have fun playing music. Before their first performance, they were in need of a band name and decided to name themselves after their dinner – the rest is history! They perform original music primarily written by their lead singer Noam as well as covers of music ranging from 90s grunge to 2000s Pink Rock. They are excited to perform at Celebrate Mansfield after winning Waldron’s Studio 88’s 2024 Battle Of The Bands!
Enjoy a performance by Royal Oaks at 5:00 PM on the main stage at Betsy Paterson Square! Royal Oaks is an alternative rock band originating in Ledyard, Connecticut in 2015. After moving around the state for school, the band mostly settled in Willimantic, Connecticut where they continue today. With influences like the Cars, the Killers, and a share of newer rock bands, Royal Oaks strives to create music for everyone to enjoy! With a handful of releases and new music on the way, Royal Oaks brings retro feels along with new and exciting sounds. Royal Oaks consists of Logan Hinton, Zeb Mrowka, and Avery Davies, and for this event Jon Christina filling in on drums.
At 6:00 PM, everyone is invited to grab some dinner at a Festival food booth or Downtown Storrs restaurant and head to Betsy Paterson Square for our closing performance by Jake Kulak and the Modern Vandals! Award-winning musician and guitar phenom, Jake Kulak has been performing professionally in front of audiences since the age of 12. Thrilling audiences from Norway to Boston, from Sydney to New York City, and down to the Mississippi Delta, Jake plays guitar-driven rock music which highlights his improvisational and jam abilities. Jake has spent five summers playing in the home of the Blues – Clarksdale, Mississippi.
Jake was voted Best Blues Band or Singer by The Hartford Courant’s CTNOW Reader’s Poll. He and his power trio were also nominated for a New England Music Award for “Best New Act of the Year.” In 2019, they competed all summer in the Foxwoods Resort Casino’s prestigious “Battle of the Bands” and took home the $10,000 Grand Prize award.
His original pop song “Better” and his rock tunes “Circles” and “Caution Tape” were all chosen as semi- finalists in the International Songwriting Competition, the “competition to take note of,” according to The New York Times. The band has won the Connecticut Blues Society Band Challenge and performed at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, TN. Jake’s debut album, Get Faded and Go, was recognized in The Hartford Courant’s “Best Album by CT Musicians.”
Jake is a cum laude graduate of Berklee College of Music in Boston with concentrations in guitar performance, songwriting and music business, along with a minor in philosophy. He has been inducted into the Connecticut Blues Hall of Fame.
Jake Kulak and the Modern Vandals 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. Visitors are invited to bring a blanket or lawn chair. Refreshments will be available for purchase from the Festival food booths and at Downtown Storrs restaurants.
Please note: Alcohol is prohibited on the Square. Smoking and vaping are also prohibited on the Square. The Celebrate Mansfield Festival is free and open to everyone.
The Mansfield Downtown Partnership produces the Celebrate Mansfield Festival with the generous support of local sponsors. The 2024 Platinum Sponsors are Barnes & Noble UConn; Eversource; Gulemo Printers, Inc.; The Oaks on the Square; and Wilcox & Reynolds.
The 2024 Gold Sponsors are the Town of Mansfield; University of Connecticut; E. O. Smith High School; Mansfield Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation; The M&T Charitable Foundation; National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine (NICABM); Price Chopper; and WILI.
The 2024 Silver Sponsors are Advanced Window Systems; The Adventure Park at Storrs; Casella Waste Systems; Coyote Flaco; Cynthia van Zelm and Christopher Kennedy; Green Valley Hospitality; Hops 44; LAZ Parking; Mansfield Orthodontics; Mountain Dairy; OBGYN and Midwifery of CT; Renewal by Andersen; UConn Foundation; and Weichert Realtors, Four Corners Real Estate.
The Partnership thanks these businesses and organizations for their support of our community!
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