Honk, the annual festival of activist street bands, returns Saturday, Oct. 9, after taking a year off from live performances to help stem the spread of covid.

This weekend, “bands, all hailing from nearby locations, will be performing throughout the Boston-area, but only on that Saturday,” organizers write. “Up-to-date health precautions will be followed, depending on what is required for safe outdoor gatherings on that very day.” Performances will also be live-streamed on Honk’s youtube channel. There will be no big parade from Somerville to Cambridge, but the festival will include a handful of smaller processions. Full schedule: https://honkfest.org/2021-festival/simple-schedule-2021/

Organizers write: “For this is the year of the distilled decentralized festival, where a wide variety of on-site events will take place in neighborhoods throughout greater Boston. In partnership with social justice, community and arts organizations, 15+ local Honk bands will play throughout Honk Saturday, in parks, squares and on street corners in Somerville, Cambridge, East Boston, South End and Roxbury. These unplugged street bands will play to support events designed by their neighborhood partner organizations, who are based right where they live and work, with the purpose of raising awareness about the good grassroots work being done right there.”

“This year, HONK!’s intention is to reach communities that have not been able to participate in the past, for example Nubian Square in Roxbury, while also retaining Honk’s historic connection to Davis Square in Somerville,” organizers write. “The plan is to delve deep into various neighborhoods that constitute the hyperlocal communities that make up Boston and its adjacent cities.”

Previously: Wonderland has been covering Honk since nearly the beginning, with lots of photos and reports: https://gregcookland.com/wonderland/tag/honk/


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