Hundreds brave heat for music festival in Lynn Woods

LYNN – Despite a continued heatwave, Lynn Woods was the place to be Saturday for local teens and young adults who enjoyed a day-long music festival among the trees.The fourth annual Hodgepodge Music Festival, which features almost a dozen bands and draws hundreds of music lovers, is a popular event that is also helping to elevate the cool factor of the woods that host it, say organizers and attendees.View a photo gallery”I’ve had kids come up and say to me, ?You know, I didn’t even know this was here,'” said Hodgepodge co-founder Dean Albert of the Rose Garden, a flat clearing on a hill just above the woods’ Pennybrook Road entrance where the festival takes place.Co-founder Dom Landry said holding the concert in the woods was a natural choice, because it lends an air of both festivity and tranquility that a more traditional concert venue might not have.”It’s a better vibe outside; it’s really pulling people into nature,” he said.Other local organizations looking for an entertainment venue seem to agree.From July 27-Aug. 11, downtown Lynn theater nonprofit Arts After Hours will host its second annual Shakespeare in the Park in the Lynn Woods, where actors will perform “Much Ado About Nothing” on an old bandstand near Breeds Pond, also off the Pennybrook Road entrance.According to an Arts After Hours press release, dances in the 1940s were held in the bandstand.Tom Dill, whose son Bradley Dill performed Saturday at Hodgepodge with his band “The Dirty Floorboards,” wasn’t at those dances, but he said he remembers spending a lot of time as a kid in the woods and it’s nice to see his son and his friends do the same. Tom and his wife, Estelle, even donated to Hodgepodge in the hopes similar events will sprout up.”It’s a healthy thing, with the music, and it’s just good to see kids with a passion,” Estelle Dill said.Albert said it’s tempting, on a day when temperatures soared into the 90s, to stay at home in the air conditioning and find entertainment on screens. But Hodgepodge and the other events happening in the woods this summer can open a new world of fun, he said.”It’s kind of one of the hidden gems of Lynn. I feel kind of nice to be able to expose this to other kids,” he said.Amber Phillips can be reached at [email protected].