32nd annual Springfest brings music back to multiple downtown locations

NORTHAMPTON — Streets will be filled with sounds of music on Saturday, May 16, as the Northampton Community Music Center will present its 32nd annual Springfest, featuring live performances across three outdoor stages in downtown Northampton.

Springfest 2026 is the return of the Community Music Center’s beloved and free public recital and coincides this year with the 40th anniversary of the nonprofit.

The Community Music Center’s mission is to foster the love and pursuit of music within the community through quality education, performances and activities accessible to all. NCMC, which doles out $70,000 in scholarships each year, aims to make music education equitable and accessible for people of all ages.

The performances run every half hour across three outdoor stages from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Pulaski Park, the front steps of City Hall, and the Arts Kiosk in front of the First Churches of Northampton and Urban Outfitters will host these performances, and the day’s schedule can be found at ncmc.net/springfest.

“What’s great is it always coincides with Smith’s [College] commencement, which means there’s lots of people downtown to hear the students perform. It’s a great day for businesses because a lot of people are in town,” said NCMC Executive Director Jason Trotta, adding that the day has become a win-win, not only for the music center but also for the downtown community due to the influx of people in the area.

The day is an opportunity for the ensembles and students of NCMC to share results of their music practice and capture a unique experience as performers in this setting. Solo acts, ensembles, choirs, bands and the senior concert band will fill downtown Northampton with activity and music from performers of all ages.

“Our youngest performers are about four years old for our Suzuki strings program, and it’s super adorable, even they’re learning, in their earliest years, simple folk tunes, and they play as a collective group. It gets them comfortable playing for an audience at a very young age, but in a very relaxed, no-pressure kind of environment where they’re getting nothing but positive feedback. It gets them comfortable as they’re developing as musicians,” said Trotta. “And then we have all the way to our senior concert band, we have people in their 80s playing in that, and that has about 50 people in it. And for them, I mean sometimes, they’re even a little more hesitant to play for an audience than the little kids are, but again, the spirit of the day is so positive and fun, and it’s very relaxed being outdoors, and people just enjoying being outside.”

Large ensembles such as the New Horizons Band of Western Mass. and the Suzuki violin & cello groups will play at Pulaski Park, and private teachers will present intergenerational rosters of their students on City Hall’s front steps and at the Arts Kiosk. City Hall will also feature several medium-sized ensembles, including jazz and rock bands, and vocal music from High Definition and the Ujima Singers.

“What’s great about [performing at] City Hall is the projection down Main Street is just so prominent from that location, so whatever group, usually some of our choirs and amplified groups, play there, and you can hear them no matter where you are on Main Street, so it’s super fun. And everybody sort of understands one of the main missions of the organization is to make music education equitable and accessible for everybody,” said Trotta. “It’s got sort of that feel of being kind of a festival but also being kind of a lawn concert kind of thing.”

Popcorn and lemonade, along with souvenir t-shirts featuring art by LESN101 — the current visual artist inresidence at NCMC — will be available throughout the day at Pulaski Park. The art has an accompanying soundtrack by NAGO, a sample-based musician and frequent collaborator of LESN101’s who has had a residency at NCMC since September 2025.

Springfest 2026 is made possible with the support of over 25 local businesses whose sponsorships help make music education accessible through NCMC’s scholarship program. In the event of rain, Springfest will take place at 139 South St., where the NCMC resides, just up the street from the Academy of Music.

“It gets the whole community involved in supporting the whole idea of music education being something that everyone has a right to have access to,” Trotta said.

To learn more about NCMC and the 2026 Springfest, visit www.ncmc.net.