Combining Art & Music
Combining Art & Music
The Great Train Robbery to Headline 2024 Griffis Sculpture Park Summer Festival
EAST OTTO - Griffis Sculpture Park will host their annual summer festival on Sunday, August 18, 2024 from 12:00-6:00pm. It’s a day filled with music, creativity, nature, exploration and much more. The festival started in 2013 and has become a “must-attend” event in Western New York’s summer calendar. The event is a major fundraiser for the Ashford Hollow Foundation, which owns and operates the sculpture park.
The event also features a vendor village, a kid’s crafts area, food stands, beer & wine service and more. Tickets are $25; children 12 and under are free. Tickets can be purchased on eventbrite.com.
Headlining this year’s Griffis Sculpture Park Summer Festival are one of the living legends of the Buffalo music scene: The Great Train Robbery. Since the mid-1980s, this band has been packing dance floors and concert venues with their rock, ska and reggae-inspired sound. After coming back from a long hiatus in 2022, the band plays only 2 to 3 shows a year - which always sell out - making their appearance at the Griffis Sculpture Park Summer Festival that much more special.
Additional performers include Buffalo’s Letter to Elise. Songs from this indie-rock group are characterized by catchy hooks, dynamic pop-rock sensibility, intricate guitar work, and being one of the first bands in the last decade to feature an electric cello. Letter to Elise is proving itself to be one of the hottest new acts coming out of the Western New York area.
Hailing from the hills of rural WNY, Cobra Patrol is a four-piece indie-rock band whose danceable rhythms, retro vibes and smart lyrics have been likened to The Feelies, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Lou Reed and The B-52's. Cobra Patrol recently released their debut album, Mudlarking, on all major streaming platforms. It showcases the songwriting talents of Dave Danielson and features the grooving bass and drum interplay of Patrick Cooper and Mike Perks. Karn Sorensen's scronky analog synth and violin rounds out the quartet's unique sound.
SON is a dynamic duo who play your favorite classic songs with a soulful twist. Consisting of Sabrina GustafSON and Jed ThompSON, the duo plays venues large and small throughout the region. They hail from the Southern Tier.
Autumn Echo is a poet, mother, and performing artist from Jamestown, NY. She is a slam master of the area’s first month poetry slam event. She has performed her original poetry across the state and has hosted hundreds of events in the region, extending open arms and an open mic to artists looking for a safe place to share their poetry.
DJ Vothonotes will be playing a special “tweener” set of European-influenced dance music. DJ Vothonotes is a former resident of Buffalo and currently spins records in Athens, Greece.
The Griffis Sculpture Park stage is located at the top of the Mill Valley Road section of the park. Patrons are allowed to bring chairs and coolers. There is a shuttle available to take patrons to the top.
The Griffis Sculpture Park is owned and operated by the Ashford Hollow Foundation, which also owns the Essex Arts Center in Buffalo, NY. The mission of the Ashford Hollow Foundation is to promote the visual and performing arts as well as construct a dynamic relationship between the arts and education in Western New York to better its young people and the greater community. Learn more at griffissculpturepark.org.