Get ready to rock and roll… pick up some blankets to donate! Blank-Fest, a holiday tradition in the Lower Hudson Valley, is back for another year.
On Sunday, December 15, 20 local bands and acts will take the stage at Hudson House in Nyack for the 28th year in a row, performing during the 12-hour benefit concert with blankets collected as admission.
“The blankets we collect, we do our best to make sure they go directly to the people on the streets of New York City,” said Kenn Rowell, Baghdaddio’s bandleader and co-founder of Blank-Fest.
Baghdaddios bandleader and Blank-Fest co-founder Kenn Rowell and his wife, poet, Blank-Fest performer and volunteer, Yvonne Sotomayor (center) pose with friends during the 2023 Blank-Fest show, a concert that collects general donations as an entrance fee.
What you can look forward to during Blank-Fest XXVIII at Hudson House
This year’s concert includes Blank-Fest classics such as The Undead featuring Bobby Steele, Patti Rothberg, David Tanner and bilingual poet Yvonne Sotomayor, along with Blank-Fest co-founders and musicians Chuck DeBruyn and Joe D’Urso . There will be two new additions to the lineup: X tribute band We’re Desperate and a four-piece harmony group: Zuko, Phillips, Cohn & Starr.
Also new this year is a special tribute to Nyack musician and regular Blank-Fest performer Tim O’Donohue, who died in September.
“I just didn’t have it in my heart to give (his time slot) away,” Rowell said. “So I spoke to one of his bandmates, and I spoke to his widow, and with her permission we are dedicating this year’s show to his memory.”
The general donations piled up after 2023’s Blank-Fest, a holiday benefit that takes place annually in Nyack, where the concert admission fee is a general donation.
How Blank-Fest helps people without homes
Blank-Fest is essentially about collecting and distributing blankets to people without housing. As the event’s website states: “It’s about the homeless, nothing more, nothing less.”
“I lived in a basement in Queens,” Rowell said. “I didn’t have two nickels to rub together. Even after all those years of Bagdaddios and Blank-Fest. And don’t think the irony hasn’t struck me more than a few times.”
“That could be me on the street, with a twist of fate,” he continued.
But the work doesn’t stop when the concert is over. Immediately afterwards, Rowell and volunteers will coordinate the return of instruments and equipment used during the event, which will be donated by local businesses including Long Island Drum Center in Nyack and Rockland Music in Nanuet.
Between the date of the concert and Dec. 24, Rowell and a team of volunteers will count the blankets and take them to a donated storage facility in Congers. Then on Christmas Eve, they drive the blankets to New York City, where volunteers hand them out.
Musicians will perform at Blank-Fest XXVII in 2023, a holiday benefit where the entrance fee is a general donation. The efforts have collected thousands of blankets over the years for those in need.
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Over the years, Blank-Fest has distributed thousands of blankets to people who need them.
Since its inception, Rowell estimates that Blank-Fest (and other related pop-up events) has raised a total of more than 20,000 donations for the homeless, with the number increasing in almost each of the first ten years. The group collected between 200 and 300 blankets in 2023.
The entire event depends on people being willing to give up some of their time to celebrate the holidays. A “tall assignment” for some, Rowell said, but one he is “blown away and humbled by.” He even has friends who have traveled from Georgia and Texas to volunteer.
“It’s amazing how many giving, selfless people cross our paths and continue to contribute to this cause,” Rowell said.
“I think it’s a wonderful sacrifice,” says Yvonne Sotomayor, a bilingual poet, Rowell’s wife, Blank-Fest performer and (unofficial) general counter. “I’ve felt pressure to have family time.”
“But when we got there,” Sotomayor continued, “it was the connection and seeing people’s faces. They just want to be seen.”
What you need to know if you go to Blank-Fest XXVIII in Nyack
When: Sunday, December 15, noon to midnight.
Where: Hudson House, 134 Main St., Nyack.
Entrance fee: One blanket (or more!) per person.
For more information: Check out Blankfest.org.
Samantha Antrum reports on cultural and social justice issues and events in Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties. You can reach her by email at santrum@lohud.com.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Nyack 12-hour rock fest, a holiday tradition helping NYC come out
