Under a canopy of trees, music enthusiasts and community members alike gathered for the 30th Recreation Park Music Festival on Sunday, Aug. 17. Featuring performances by local and regional groups, vendors and a t-shirt sale supporting Binghamton high school students, this annual event has become a beloved tradition blending music with local outreach.

While the music festival began in 1996 as a way to promote original jam band music, it has been known as the Harper M. Stantz Rec Park Music Fest for the past seven years in honor of Harper Stantz, a 16-year-old girl who tragically passed away in 2019. Stantz, known for her compassionate soul, love of music and connection to the park, lives on through the yearly gathering and her family, who have continued to be strong supporters of the festival.

Sporting Harper Stantz t-shirts, attendees gathered in the shade around Recreation Park’s amphitheater with blankets and chairs to enjoy the evening’s music lineup.

“I always thought it was important to have outdoor venues for live music,” Jim Reyen, the festival’s founder and producer, said in an interview. “But I think it’s even more important now post-COVID for people to come out and gather, meet the community and interact.”

Reyen strives to bring diverse music groups together each year, with the evening’s performances ranging from cover bands like Home Brew, a Grateful Dead tribute group, to local original groups like Heavy Delish and Caviar & Grits. A unique addition to this year’s festival was Sophistafunk, a Syracuse group recruited as Guy Fieri’s house band that brought a mash of funk and rap to the park.

Staying true to the festival’s mission of promoting local music, many performers played original pieces. Vocalist Allie Torto, a Binghamton local dedicated to her hometown’s music community, sang a mixture of covers and her original songs for the audience, accompanied by a full band.

“I love to sing my original songs,” Torto said. “I try to do covers to get people familiar and comfortable with what they know and how my voice is in relation to that because I think it captures their attention a little better. But I love singing originals and having a good response, and that’s exactly what happened today, so it was a wonderful feeling.”

Mitch Distefano, lead singer of Heavy Delish, hailing from Brooklyn, New York, expressed his appreciation for the festival as a way to gather Binghamton’s community and promote his band’s music.

“I just love the fact that kids of all ages can be here,” Distefano said. “It’s friendly, the sound is great and there are kids playing in the background — it’s a family affair, as opposed to being in a bar or a rock and roll club, where people can’t just walk by with strollers. And also, it’s nice to be an original band in a scene where there really aren’t that many. People really appreciate that we work hard on the music.”

For three decades, Binghamton’s beloved historic park has been transformed into a vibrant celebration of music, community and resilience. What began as a grassroots event has turned into a cornerstone summer festival that draws musicians, artists and families from across the region to Recreation Park in honor of Harper’s legacy and the joy that music brings.

“It goes to a good cause,” Benjamin Raub, bassist for Heavy Delish, said. “Jim Reyen has been putting this on for 30 years and it’s just grown and grown and grown, and I think that’s because of the people that volunteer their time with a positive attitude, bringing music, arts and food. Bringing it all together for a good cause, and Harper Stantz’s family is a benefit to that.”