The Eighth Annual Winterfest-Live on the Vine kicked off Friday night with a party at the Suffolk Theater.
More than 250 people packed the house to hear Randy Jackson, Kerry Kearney Band and Jack’s Waterfall perform on the historic theater’s stage.
Winterfest is a six-week, mid-winter music festival that takes place in venues across the North Fork including vineyard tasting rooms, theaters, craft breweries and hotels. This year’s festival will offer more than 70 performances in jazz, rock, folk, blues, world and more. For more information and concert schedules, visit the Winterfest website.
The festival is presented by East End Arts, the L.I. Wine Council, the L.I. Convention and Visitors Bureau, Suffolk County National Bank and the N.Y. State Council on the Art and is produced by James Faith Presents.
East End Arts Council executive director Pat Snyder recalled that Winterfest was initiated to bring visitors to the North Fork in the middle of winter.
“The arts are fun, but they’re also about commerce and economic development,” Snyder said.
Howard Bluver, CEO of Suffolk County National Bank, the festival’s principal sponsor and County Legislator Al Krupski were on hand to help kick things off, as was WALK radio personality Cindy Clifford, who noted that, over the course of it’s eight-year history, Winterfest-Live on the Vine “has grown from a little baby vine to a whole vineyard of really remarkable music.”
