Last night, Mal and I had the pleasure of attending the 2nd Annual Life is Good Festival at Prowse Farm in Canton, Massachusetts. The festival raised more than $1 million for the Life is Good Playmakers, the charitable arm of the company that helps children overcome life-threatening challenges through play.
What initially attracted me to the festival was the music. Some of my favorite artists were on the schedule, including Michael Franti and Sprearhead, Martin Sexton, Tristan Prettyman, Brandi Carlile, Robert Randolph & the Family Band, and Ray LaMontagne.
In addition to a stellar musical line up, the festival offered a number of family-friendly activities, including games, arts and crafts, and a children’s stage, where the musical acts were geared to kids.
There was also a ton of really great food and beverage options— quite a bit of it was healthy, nutritious stuff. There were also a number of vendors serving (good) beer and wine.
The vibe of the festival was super positive, friendly, and just happy-go-lucky all around. It made me really happy to see everyone enjoying themselves so much. I will definitely be going to the Life is Good Festival next year.
Chobani gave me two free tickets to this year’s festival, so a huge THANK YOU to them!
After wandering around for awhile, checking out all of the different booths, I grabbed a beer with Mal and headed over to the main stage to listen to some live music.
Well, hello, Ray LaMontagne. Aren’t you a handsome devil.
Ray sang “The Weight” with the Levon Helm Band. It was awesome.
Mal and I also caught Raphael Saadiq, who quickly became a new favorite of ours. (We downloaded a bunch of his stuff as soon as we got home.) Did you know that Raphael Saadiq was in Tony Toni Toné? What a blast from the past!
And then it was time for Ray!
I was most excited about seeing him play. I love his music. And his voice. So much.
As always, Ray was amazing. He played “Jolene,” and during it, a couple nearby us got engaged. It was sweet, but a weird choice in songs for a wedding proposal.
“Henry Nearly Killed Me” was my favorite song of the evening. Ray got really into it. I love when musicians get into their music like that.
Ray played for about an hour, and then did a two-song encore: “Let It Be Me” followed by “Rock & Roll and Radio.” Both were excellent.
While I listened to Ray play, I started thinking about how much I enjoyed the festival— the positivity and friendliness was off the charts and totally contagious. While I let my wander, I realized a few things:
- I really miss Vermont. The atmosphere and people at the festival reminded me so much of being in VT. I need to plan a trip there ASAP. Or maybe I should just move there?
- I love being surrounded by upbeat, positive people. It makes me happy and a better person myself, so I plan to focus more of my energy on these kind of people.
- Life is good. In fact, I love my life, and I never want to feel badly about enjoying it or living it the way I do.
Question of the Day
What’s one thing that you really love about your life right now?
{ 84 comments… read them below or add one }
← Previous Comments
This festival reminds me of my dorm room–positive affirmations all over the place (seriously, my room is covered with upbeat post-it notes).
In my life now, I am loving my best friend. We go to different colleges and are both insanely busy, but we finally had a chance to skype last night (first time in weeks), and she always makes me feel better about everything!
@Julia H. @ The Petite Spiel: Positive affirmations are my new favorite thing. I have a bunch hanging around my office now!
Aww that’s so sweet that a couple got engaged during Ray’s concert!
One thing I love about my life is my life on campus. I love being a student!
As, happy times!
What a wonderful post! I love Vermont too. I’ve never lived there but I visited frequently throughout my childhood — Burlington will always have a special place in my heart.
I love this post! My husband and I always strive to live “a good life”, thus the title of my blog and my hubby’s tattoo
Just remembering that I have a pretty darn fantastic life filled with great family and friends is more than enough for me and I have to remember it’s these things that is what matters most in life. Sometimes I get caught up in the lil annoyances, body image issues, or materialistic things in my life, so at the end of the day I always try and brush those feelings away and remember how good my life is
I went last night too! Ray is my obsession. I got to sit front row at his show in June and snuck my way up front last night. I LOVE him
I went to Life Is Good on Saturday! So much fun! I was a little sad that I didn’t go on Sunday to see the ever-melodious Ray LaMontagne, though. Reading your post made me nostalgic for his tunes so I’m actually bumping ‘Hold You in My Arms’ right now haha. The Avett Brothers totally stole the show on Saturday – amazing stuff!
@meghan @ struggle muffins:
Aaahhh! I love The Avett Brothers! I saw them Sunday night up in NH!
@Stephy C: So good!
how fun! The creators of the Life is Good brand apparently went to my college so I’ve always been a big fan of their brand!
I just got married, and I love my husband immensely! That’s what I love right now.
I SO want to go to this festival! I wish I didn’t live so far away from it! As my blog name implies, life really IS good. I have a wonderful husband and a great family. Life can be a little bumpy sometimes, but I just have to stop and think for a minute just how blessed I am. Plus, peanut butter makes life good too!
I love living abroad.. sometimes I let the distance bring me down, because I’m so far from family and friends. But then little things remind me that I have an amazing opportunity to spend a part of my life in Holland, and for that I am thankful!
LOVE Ray…we saw him a few weeks ago at the Austin City Limits Music Festival, which also has a similar vibe…revives your soul!
I’m loving the people in my life right now. I am blessed with a wonderful beau, great friends and a loving family.
It looks like a great time! I wish I’d known Ray was coming here-I’ve been wanting to see him for years.
Wow I have no idea who any of those artists are! LoL. Glad you had a good time though! That is great they put such a positive festival together! Its definitely nice to feed off the positivity of other people!
I definitely love life. Right now, things are really stressful for me since I have a lot going on but I am so grateful I have such an awesome husband to support me through it all. So I guess I just love having him in my life!
~Ang
I didn’t know you were a big Ray fan, Tina! I’ve seen him a bunch of times and it always puts me in the best mood.
I’m a huge fan! I’ve seen him a number of times too. He’s so amazing, isn’t he?
@Tina: Ahhh, he’s the best! His voice gives me chills and makes me smile at the same time. It’s totally swoon-worthy. Amazing indeed!
Billy and I were there on Sunday! AND we were standing right behind the people who got engaged during Jolene! We both spent the next five minutes talking about how that was not the best proposal song hahaha.
How awesome is Rafael Saadiq?
@Yellaphant: You were standing super close to us then!
Right now, I’m loving everything that isn’t stressing me out! But especially my husband. The last week was soooo stressful, and he was totally my rock through the whole thing. So thankful!
I’m loving that fall is right around the corner. Cool, crisp air always makes me happy.
You should visit VT next weekend (Oct. 8th & 9th). Mount Snow is having OktoBrewFest…a combination of their annual Brew Fest (which was cancelled due to the damage tropical storm Irene caused) and Oktoberfest! http://mountsnow.com/oktobrewfest/
It’s beautiful here right now!
← Previous Comments
{ 1 trackback }