The HONK! Festival is a one-of-a-kind street spectacle of revolutionary proportions. This year marks the 18th year of our festival. We can’t quite believe it. The upcoming HONK! Festival of Activist Street Bands is now upon us – October 6 – 8 – and it’s going to be our first full-scale festival since 2019, before the pandemic hit. With more than 30 bands performing, this year’s festival will mark our return to a true national convergence. This doesn’t mean we think that COVID has simply disappeared; we are taking the necessary precautions to help protect all band members and festival goers. At the same time, we feel that the overwhelming interest in this year’s festival is a testament to our belief in the power of street bands to advance the cause of social justice in the world and have a good time doing it. Once again, Somerville will open its homes, its businesses, its streets, and its heart to hundreds of activist street musicians from across the US to celebrate the sound and spectacle of brass and percussion bands who revel in participatory music-making and supporting righteous social causes. Our invitation to you is the same as always: Join us for the music, make some art, march in the parade, build community, and stand up for social justice — all for free. Some of the bands you’ll hear this year have become HONK! mainstays, whose music and street antics you have enjoyed for years. Others will be more recently formed bands performing at HONK! for the first time. Either way we are certain that you will find something new to expand your horizons and whet your appetite for a greater diversity of street band sounds. Because of our deep commitment to the music and culture of New Orleans we are pleased to welcome the Young Fellaz brass band back to the festival. They will bring a new repertoire of New Orleans funk to Somerville. HONK! fans should be prepared to be blown away by their talent and energy yet again. Producing a festival like Somerville’s HONK! year after year requires the development of long-term relationships with dozens of volunteers, local businesses, city administrations, social service agencies, unions, neighborhood groups, and progressive political organizations. An all-volunteer Organizing Committee works crazy hours all year long to plan and coordinate every aspect of the Festival. Municipal and community leaders assist with logistics, permitting, and material support, local businesses donate food, neighbors share their homes with visiting musicians, and graphic designers, photographers, parade marshals, community organizers and many, many others volunteer their time and effort.  The same is true of the bands that come to HONK! — they don't get paid to perform — they play because they love the Festival. In return, we house and feed hundreds of musicians for three days. And we help to defray travel expenses for bands that travel from afar. As you might imagine, this can run up quite a tab. And because we are a non-profit organization, with a limited budget, we always have to stretch our resources to the limit to make HONK! happen.  This is where you come in.  We need to raise $18,000 to ensure that every band that wants to come to HONK! can make the journey. Every donation — your donation — will help.  Please act now and thank you for your generosity.

Hello <span contenteditable="false" data-custom-variable="{{firstname}}" fr-original-class="fr-deletable styled-tag-chip " style="background-color:rgb(248, 248, 255);border:1px solid rgb(191, 191, 255);border-radius:4px;color:rgb(42, 42, 196);display:inline-block;margin:0px;padding:1px 8px;font-size:11px;line-height:16px;overflow-wrap:anywhere;-webkit-user-select:none;box-sizing:inherit">First name <span contenteditable="false" data-custom-variable="{{lastname}}" fr-original-class="fr-deletable styled-tag-chip " style="background-color:rgb(248, 248, 255);border:1px solid rgb(191, 191, 255);border-radius:4px;color:rgb(42, 42, 196);display:inline-block;margin:0px;padding:1px 8px;font-size:11px;line-height:16px;overflow-wrap:anywhere;-webkit-user-select:none;box-sizing:inherit">Last name, We thank you from the bottom of our heart. It is donations like this that helps make HONK! possible. If you know other people who you think would like to also support HONK!, please forward this link to them:<a href="https://honkfest.org/donate">https://honkfest.org/donate</a> . If you would like to contribute further, please contact us to become a volunteer, house a musician or join our organizing committee:<a href="https://honkfest.org/help">https://honkfest.org/help</a> Thanks again for helping make HONK! happen, hope to see you at the festival! -- The HONK! organizing committee

Thank you for fundraising with us this year again! Here is more information.

The HONK! Festival is a one-of-a-kind street spectacle of revolutionary proportions. This year marks the 18th year of our festival. We can’t quite believe it. The upcoming HONK! Festival of Activist Street Bands is now upon us – October 6 – 8 – and it’s going to be our first full-scale festival since 2019, before the pandemic hit. With more than 30 bands performing, this year’s festival will mark our return to a true national convergence. This doesn’t mean we think that COVID has simply disappeared; we are taking the necessary precautions to help protect all band members and festival goers. At the same time, we feel that the overwhelming interest in this year’s festival is a testament to our belief in the power of street bands to advance the cause of social justice in the world and have a good time doing it. Once again, Somerville will open its homes, its businesses, its streets, and its heart to hundreds of activist street musicians from across the US to celebrate the sound and spectacle of brass and percussion bands who revel in participatory music-making and supporting righteous social causes. Our invitation to you is the same as always: Join us for the music, make some art, march in the parade, build community, and stand up for social justice — all for free. Some of the bands you’ll hear this year have become HONK! mainstays, whose music and street antics you have enjoyed for years. Others will be more recently formed bands performing at HONK! for the first time. Either way we are certain that you will find something new to expand your horizons and whet your appetite for a greater diversity of street band sounds. Because of our deep commitment to the music and culture of New Orleans we are pleased to welcome the Young Fellaz brass band back to the festival. They will bring a new repertoire of New Orleans funk to Somerville. HONK! fans should be prepared to be blown away by their talent and energy yet again. Producing a festival like Somerville’s HONK! year after year requires the development of long-term relationships with dozens of volunteers, local businesses, city administrations, social service agencies, unions, neighborhood groups, and progressive political organizations. An all-volunteer Organizing Committee works crazy hours all year long to plan and coordinate every aspect of the Festival. Municipal and community leaders assist with logistics, permitting, and material support, local businesses donate food, neighbors share their homes with visiting musicians, and graphic designers, photographers, parade marshals, community organizers and many, many others volunteer their time and effort.  The same is true of the bands that come to HONK! — they don't get paid to perform — they play because they love the Festival. In return, we house and feed hundreds of musicians for three days. And we help to defray travel expenses for bands that travel from afar. As you might imagine, this can run up quite a tab. And because we are a non-profit organization, with a limited budget, we always have to stretch our resources to the limit to make HONK! happen.  This is where you come in.  We need to raise $18,000 to ensure that every band that wants to come to HONK! can make the journey. Every donation — your donation — will help.  Please act now and thank you for your generosity.

HONK! Inc.

Help make HONK! 2023 Happen

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