Foo Fest in Photos - Allston Pudding

by Deanna Archetto

Last weekend, stuff Empire Street in Providence, RI, closed down to automobile traffic. In its place were duck-shaped carts, acrobats, and musicians celebrating AS220’s annual Foo Fest. The non-profit community arts center on located at 115 Empire Street had two stages and food truck vendors going for 12 hours on Saturday, August 9, and since it only takes an hour to get to Providence, Foo Fest is the perfect excuse for a weekend trip.

If you aren’t familiar with AS220’s vibe, it’s a local home for the arts; a place where all aspects of creativity can thrive in this multifaceted performance, gallery, studio and educational space. Foo Fest’s vibe was no different. It was a very open and positive gathering, with workshops on everything from screen printing and 3D printing, and an acceptance of all types of performance art.

The indoor stage featured more traditional musical performances, and while the lineup was eclectic, it was the kind show you’d see any night at place like Great Scott. Early on in the afternoon, local group Tapestries put on a solid show that really gave off a sense of pride for being from Providence. They called up Roz Raskin from another local group, The Rice Cakes, to sing with vocalist Mike DeCosta on one of their old favorites. Their psychedelic brand of rock music takes a few minutes to really get going, but once it does, the crowd is lost in the unending barrage of hard-hitting noise.

On the mammoth outdoor stage, the performances incorporated more visual and visceral forms or art and expression. The crowd bounced around from vendor to vendor, stopping intermittently to experience sets as diverse as Kayciblu’s sugary hip-hop and Samantha Vacation’s experimental etherealness.

AS220’s annual Foo Fest has so much more to offer than the 12-hour lineup of music. The Anarchist book fair, local food trucks, and hometown celebrities, is only a short list of some of the sights. Actually, seeing former (and once again in the running for) Providence Mayor Buddy Cianci walking right behind a young man with a 2-foot-tall mohawk kind of encapsulates the relationship that arts scene has with the City of Providence. As a renaissance city of sorts, Providence has become a perfect place for these passionate artists to showcase their talents that are on full display at Foo Fest.