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Northeast Kingdom Sways to the Sound of Reggae
by Scott Wheeler

Hard work and long hours, it’s all part of life on the family farm. But for the Rogers family, the owners of the Hillcrest Farm in Coventry, Friday, on August 12 and Saturday, August 13, they weren’t herding cows along their property, instead they were welcoming a fascinating and colorful group of reggae fans to the Vermont Roots Reggae Festival – a festival that plans to return to their farm next year on the same weekend.

“I think it was easier milking cows,” Maureen Rogers laughed as she stayed in perpetual motion throughout the festival. “But I love this. I love the people and I love the music.” Estimates of the number of people at the festival range from 500 to 700 people.

The Vermont Roots Reggae Festival was held in Coventry on August 12 and 13.
There was fun and music for all who attended.

Mrs. Rogers and her husband, Julian, raised their now grown children on the Pine Hill Road farm on a staple of fresh meat and milk, and a good dose of hard work. The couple is now semi-retired, but their son, Michael, who worked closely with the organizers of the festival, struggles to keeps the farm viable and part of Vermont’s working landscape. The family gave up milking cows in 2001, but they still raise and sell heifers and cut and sell hay. While some farmers have diversified from cows to other animal species, such as elk and furrow deer, Michael sees the farmland, which has a spectacular view of Lake Mempremagog’s South Bay, as a perfect venue to host small concerts and festivals. However, he and his parents are quick to warn people not to panic. They don’t want anything as big as the Phish Festival that attracted upwards of 80,000 people to the region exactly a year ago– a festival that brought rain, mud, and traffic gridlock.

“That was way too big,” Michael said. “I’m talking about something totally different.” The site where the Phish Festival was held, on and around the Newport City Airport, is clearly visible across the valley from the Hillcrest Farm.

“To be honest, before this, I never listened to reggae,” Michael Rogers said, as he watched dozens of people, some with their hair in dreadlocks down their backs, sway and dance to the music. “I really like it.” Many of the people who attended the festival made a weekend of it, camping in some of the farms 100 plus acres of fields, including around the family’s well-kept pond, a favorite cooling off spot throughout the summer for some of the people who live along the road.

The festival was held at the Rogers farm. The farm is owned by
Julian and Maureen Rogers and their son Michael.

In many ways, the music that drifted from the hill top farm was about as polar opposite of the music performed by Phish as one could get. Whereas many locals found Phish’s music nothing less than abrasive, loud, and little more than screaming, people who never even listened to reggae music before this festival found it difficult not to sway to the mellow, spirit filled music.

“I loved it,” Kassie Cunningham of Newport said. “I met so many real nice people. They were nice and they even cleaned up after themselves.” Cunningham volunteered her time at the festival. “It was great.”

It’s conga time

The Vermont Roots Reggae Festival isn’t new to Vermont. For years it served as an annual pilgrimage for reggae fans around the state, and around the Eastern United States. That pilgrimage came to a stop for a variety of reasons several years ago when a decision was made to put the festivals on hold – at least for a time. Hopes are that this year’s festival will bring new life to what was an annual tradition to this colorful, down to earth, and earth conscious people.

The Rogers said the festival, especially during the planning stage, experienced a number of glitches. For a time they questioned whether the folks at Vermont Roots knew what they were doing. Originally the festival was planned for Glover, but because of some questionable organizing talents, the festival suddenly shifted to Coventry. The Rogers family agreed to lease their farm fields for the festivals. An internal dispute between the organizers, a dispute that did not include the Rogers family, almost brought the festival to a screeching halt the very day it was to begin. They credit Michael Lee of Vermont Roots with saving the festival.

“Michael Lee saved the day,” Michael Rogers said. “He was a great organizer. Lee had his work cut out for him. He put his years of festival and concert-organizing skills to work and put the final touches on what was a smaller than hoped for festival, but a very manageable, and successful one. An easy going, distinguished looking man with dreadlocks and a beard, Lee explained that it will take time for word to get out that the Rogers Farm is the place to go for good reggae music for one weekend each year.

Then there is a small, but vocal group of people in Coventry who want to close a loop hole in the town ordinances that allows people to host large gatherings, as long as they have less than 2,000 people, without a permit. Because of this loophole, there is little community officials can do to regulate the events, or in some cases, prevent them all together. Some people, including at least one of Rogers’ neighbors, wants to see an ordinance passed to close this hole once and for all. Maureen Rogers said she welcomes the ordinance, because the way she looks at the proposed ordinance, is it’ll only affect people wanting to host events that don’t meet up to health and safety standards of larger events. She said that any event that is held at her farm is going to meet, if not surpass, any standards that any large gathering ordinance will require. In addition to having plenty of paid security people on site, many other people volunteered their time to patrol the area just to make sure everybody was safe and having a good time. A medical tent was on site, but other then a couple tiny puncture wounds caused by nails while building the makeshift stage atop a flatbed trailer, the medical tent was the quietest place at the festival.

Many people turned the festival into an overnight venture.
The fields once filled with cows, were dotted with tents.

“I think this is one of the best things that could happen to the area and to the state,” Kenny Walker of Derby said. Besides working as a vendor at the festival, Walker is a longtime reggae enthusiast.

“Reggae is spiritual, political, and earth conscious – it’s about love,” Walker said. Looking out across the crowd, he said that the people at the festival came from all over and from all walks of life, but the one common thread that they all shared was their love of reggae.

Walker was very appreciative of the Rogers’ family’s willingness to allow the use of this land for the festival. Although the crowd was a bit smaller than what some people had hoped for, Walker said it will take another festival or two for the word to spread about the new festival site. The Derby man said that it is impossible to compare last year’s Phish Festival to what he, and many other people would like to see become an annual event at the Coventry farm. “Phish was too big,” Walker said. “60,000 people is too many people. A 1,000 to 8,000 people is more like it.”

Exhausted from almost around the clock work and planning, far more hours than went into milking cows twice a day, Michael Rogers said the festival went so smoothly because of the professionalism of the paid security and the generosity of the volunteers who dedicated an entire weekend not only for the festival, but to enrich the region with the sound of reggae. Michael Rogers said he and his family looks forward to hosting the gathering next year, most likely on the same weekend.