The two-day eye-catching festival will feature 50 musical acts and is named after Jack Kerouac’s first novel, which was published in 1950. Although Jack Kerouac died in 1969, his impact lives on, particularly in Lowell, where The Town and The City Festival is currently in its third year.
The Town and City Festival, which has been postponed twice due to COVID-19-related shutdowns and rules, will finally take place on April 8-9 at various locations throughout the city. On Friday, there will be seven stages, and on Saturday, there will be ten, with capacities ranging from 40 to 350.
The event, which is usually held in the fall, started in 2018 and continues the following year.” Porter adds that he started planning for 2020 , “then the inevitable came, so we cancelled it outright.” Then the omicron variant’s fall surge moved the festival forward once more. As a result, the change to this spring, which has a better likelihood of “relative normalcy,” was made.
While the festival is clearly intended to honour its namesake and native son’s writing and fame — this year marks his 100th birthday — promoter Chris Porter, a Lowell native himself, wants it known that modern-day Lowell is a pretty cool place to visit for the arts, shops, restaurants, and, especially this weekend, music.
The singer-guitarist will be accompanied by guitarist Gail Greenwood, upright bassist Joe McMahon, and drummer Matthias Bossi for the Lowell event. She also intends to perform with The Sheila Divine’s Dailey and Aaron Perrino throughout their concerts.