Connecticut Weekend Festivals Offer Music, Art, Food and Family Fun

CONNECTICUT — While not quite so overwhelmed with the volume of events they can expect in, say, mid-July, Connecticut festival goers partying this weekend can take advantage of cooler temps and still find plenty of activities for both kids and their parents.

Be a part of history: Join in the first annual Fairfield Hills Music Festival in Newtown on Saturday from noon to 10 p.m. Bring your chairs and blankets to the Fairfield Hills Campus, and enjoy some great regional music including Deep Banana Blackout, The Slambovian Circus of Dreams, Adam Ezra Group, Jake Kulak and The Modern Vandals, Mile Marker Zero, Max Wareham and the National Bluegrass Team, The Meadows Brothers, The Bargain, Shawn Taylor, Walker Russell Band, Jules Kessler with Vertigo and Dirty Doorknockers, among others. It's Connecticut, so there'll be plenty of food trucks, and even a beer garden, rain or shine. Tickets are available online here. It all benefits Kevin's Community Center.

If your taste in music trends less toward Slambovian Circuses and more to Strawberry Fields, you're in luck. The Fab 4 Music Festival will be returning to Connecticut on Saturday, May 17, bringing along a lineup of (mostly) Beatles cover artists to its new home at Dudleytown Brewing Company, in Windsor. In addition to the live concerts, food and drink, the outdoor fest includes exhibits, alongside vendors offering memorabilia, records and souvenirs. Tickets are available online here.

While not promising the same wattage of psychedelia, the Town of Prospect's annual Spring Fling does sound like it'll be perfect for the kids. Food, drinks, a petting zoo, farm on wheels, obstacle course, bounce house, arts, crafts and even a racetrack, will all be squeezed onto the Town Green on Saturday, May 17, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Rain date is May 18.

…and maybe don't bring the kids to the Thread City Hop Fest on Sunday. Over 60 of the best craft breweries, cideries, and distilleries, along with a convoy of food trucks and other vendors, will be descending on Jillson Sqaure in Willimantic Sunday, May 18 from 1 to 5 p.m. Proceeds benefit local shelters and soup kitchens, among other organizations making a difference. Tickets are available online here, and include specially priced ducats for designated drivers.

It's Superhero Saturday in Downtown Putnam on Saturday, May 17, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., so by all means bring your littlest Spider-men and Wonder Women. Expect to find bounce houses, spandex-ed heroes, and more than a few of the real-life variety as well.

There'll be more music, more food, and more fun activities for the kids on Saturday in East Lyme. The town will be holding its annual Earthfest at McCook Point Park from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

This one's out of the ordinary: The Artists-in-Residence Program at I-Park in East Haddam will be hosting "Memory Reconsidered – A Modest Proposition," an experimental art-nature project set within a woodland setting. The various works will be "sensitively integrated into the landscape," through which guests will either walk on their own, following a map, or with the help of a guide. The full experience for all the installations can take up to two hours, or more if you want to explore the trails. Organizers advise guests to wear trail boots or sneakers, and be prepared for moderate to challenging walking conditions, depending on the grades. Guests are invited to arrive at I-Park for one of two showings on Saturday, May 17, 10:00 a.m. to noon, and again from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Tickets are available online here.