Orleans Chamber To Host Pre-Outermost Festival Event

ORLEANS – This year’s Outermost Roots and Blues Festival will draw people from all over to Nauset Beach on Saturday and Sunday of Columbus Day weekend. But there's a reason to head downtown the Friday before as well.

The Orleans Chamber of Commerce will host Outermost Friday in the Park on Oct. 11 on the village green at the corner of Main Street and Route 28. The free event will feature live music, DJs, food trucks, beer and wine and more than 30 local merchants and nonprofit groups. 

“We hope this will continue to be an annual part of the Outermost festival,” said Judy Lindahl, the chamber’s executive director.

The chamber is hosting the Friday event in conjunction with the Friends of Nauset Beach, the non-profit organization that helps stage the annual music festival, as well as WOMR, which is coordinating live music for the event.

Lindahl said the Friday event is an opportunity to better integrate the larger festival with the business community and other local organizations around town.

“We’re looking forward to it,” Lindahl said. “As a member of the board of directors for years, I always said to the Friends of Nauset Beach ‘Please let us know how the chamber of commerce can partner with you on something like this.’ And it wasn’t until I became the executive director that I pushed [festival organizers] Mike McNamara and Mac Gallant and Garrett Dutton to really focus on this. ‘This needs to be a town-wide event. How can we collaborate on something?’”

The event begins at 1 p.m. and will run until 7:30 p.m. Vendors will begin setting up and selling at 1, while live music from Nikki and the Barn Boys, Rackline and Sensible Shoes will begin at 3:30 p.m. Beer, wine and food will also be served starting at 3:30, Lindahl said.

Friday’s event also offers an opportunity to draw residents and visitors to the village green, which despite its size is not frequently used to host public events. Town Manager Kim Newman charged the economic development committee, of which Lindahl is a member, with exploring different ways of using “underutilized” town-owned spaces such as the green.

“The village green at Snow Library is so beautiful, and there’s thousands of people that drive by it everyday.” Lindahl said. “If you stood in the middle of it, you’d see how much property it is.”

While a free event, attendees are encouraged to make a $5 donation on Friday, with all proceeds going to support the Orleans Chamber Foundation Scholarship Fund. Last year, the chamber awarded nine $1,000 scholarships to local students interested in studying the blue economy. 

This year’s Outermost lineup includes G. Love and Special Sauce, Slightly Stoopid, Donovan Frankenreiter and others, as well as a “surprise set with friends.” The chamber will also coordinate a “merchant village” inside the festival, where 35 to 40 local vendors will set up underneath a tent. Proceeds from entry fees for vendors to take part in the market will also be donated to the scholarship fund, Lindahl said.

For more information on Outermost Friday in the Park, visit www.orleanscapecod.org. More information on this year’s Outermost Roots and Blues Festival can be found at www.outermostfestival.com