Devon Lawton and The Inlaws will be one of the many musicians performing at the Southern Tier Music Fest on July 1st at the Sidney Airport. (Submitted photo)

SIDNEY — Four local communities are coming together on July 1 to host the first ever Southern Tier Music Festival in Sidney.

Four Towns Forward is a group formed by the four chambers of Afton, Unadilla, Sidney, and Bainbridge.

They will present the Southern Tier Music Fest with gates opening at 12:30 p. m. and music starting at 2 p.m. and will be located at 199 River Street at the Sidney Municipal Airport.

The fest includes a line up of local, regional, and national touring bands with some of the regions finest beer, food, and craft vendors. Seven Country music acts will perform at the festival including headliner and grammy nominated Maddie & Tae and Restless Road.

The award winning duo Maddie & Tae recently took home Group/Duo Video of the Year “Woman You Got” at the CMT Music Awards and are nominated an eighth time for Vocal Duo of the Year at the 56th CMA awards. They are long time friends and music collaborators and co-wrote each of the projects tracks, as well as all eight songs on Through The Madness Vol 1. Maddie and Tae became the first and only female twosome with multiple number ones.

Special Guest Restless Road is made up of three very different voices and has been noted as one of the most intriguing and exciting acts of the year per Wide Open Country.The three harmonize with powerful soulful lyrics.

Additional performing musicians from the local area will be: Jason Wicks, Sundown, Devon Lawton & The InLaws, Rylee Lum, and Cassidy Lynn.

DJ services will be Goodspeed Mobile Sound between live performances, playing all types of music.

Norwich resident singer, actor, dancer and choreographer Kaitlyn Jackson will MC the show. Kaitlyn has an extensive history in the music industry. Her career flourished as she released two albums of original music produced by Grammy Nominee, Kent Wells, and was featured on Season 13 of American Idol.

Four Towns Forward Chairman of the board Ed Curley said, “This is our first year but we started putting it together a few years ago, it’s taken two years to get this first one up and running. If successful, next year should be easier because we have the template done and can follow what we did this year.”

Curley said the whole concept of the festival is to bring business to the local communities of Afton, Bainbridge, Sidney, and Unadilla. We want to develop tourism and get some people to come and visit. Possibly parents will bring their children and have thoughts of moving here, putting their children in school here.

“It would be nice to have some increase in economic development, school enrollment, and housing development. We are doing everything we can to spawn any type of development in the area,” he added.

Fest event coordinator and Minty’s Candies and Treats owner Mindy Chawgo said, “We’ll have a kid's section that is provided by Live Event NY and volunteers coming from the YMCA, a local Norwich community member and a few other local volunteers will keep children busy with fun and interesting activities during daytime shows.”

“People can bring their own blankets or chairs, there will be a lawn section for them to sit in and during the concert and there is a fenced in blacktop area for people to stand if they want to be close. The VIP section is fenced off and a stand only section. Over by the craft vendors, there will be a section that people can sit down and have their blankets out and can view the concerts from the lawn area,” she added.

“I think that any gathering that we can have at this point, especially after COVID, especially after not being able to gather like we have for so many years, that we can be joined together and have a common bond with the country music, with people talented in food, talented in crafting, is important. Being able to get together is going to be empowering to everybody,” said Chawgo.

Chawgo explained that Four Towns Forward was created by four chambers bonding together and deciding they wanted to do this common interest with no separation.

Gifts and crafts will be at the fest and include: local maple products, handmade jewelry, crochet and cards, candles, soaps, bath bombs, tie-dyes, bleach dye and graphic tees, spices of all kinds, baked goods, wood works, up-cycled clothing, gourmet dog treats and accessories, and more.

Food trucks at the event will include: The Mac Factor truck, Busy Bee mobile cafe, Chick Magnet, All The Perks, and Ty's Taco Ria will create tacos made with locally sourced ingredients.

Drippy Sips squeezes into the lineup with fresh homemade lemonade and other flavored drinks. Pepe's BBQ, The Scoop of Whitney Point, and Gavins Pizza, family owned since 1998; will be flinging pies. Road Dogs, Austin Farm, Vesucre and Ava’s Ice will also provide tasty treats.

Sidney Federal Credit Union is a proud sponsor of the Southern Tier Music Fest and tickets can be purchased at branch locations in Norwich, Bainbridge, and Sidney. SVIP and VIP tickets are sold out. General Admission tickets are still available.

Additional sponsors are: NBT Bank, Butler Auto Sales, Inc., Mirabito Energy Products, Alpine Metal Roofing, Curley Wealth Management Group of Wells Fargo Advisors, Austin Farms Enterprises LLC, Lambrecht Auction Incorporated.