Thunder in the Valley music festival returns in August

July 26, 2021 | Ryan Feyre
rfeyre@thereminder.com

After a year off due to the pandemic, Thunder in the Valley returns in August with a stacked lineup of events for an eight hour festival.
Reminder Publishing submitted photos

EASTHAMPTON – The Thunder in the Valley Charity Music festival fundraising event will take place on Aug. 14 at Molitoris Orchard on 95 Park Rd. in Easthampton.

The event, which is currently in its fifth year of existence, will feature a day filled with local bands, vendors and entertainment to support Baystate Children’s Hospital, Western Massachusetts’ Children’s Miracle Network hospital.

National tribute bands Shot of Poison, Last Child, The Screaming Eagle Band and local band 80HD will perform during the event. The festival will also offer pro wrestling, gourmet food trucks, The Beer Guy, vendors and hot air balloon rides. All proceeds from this event will support pediatric patients at Baystate-specifically the Children’s Miracle Network Hospital.

The festival is run and created by a small group of people called Unbroken Wings. Over the past few years, the group has booked several bands and other national acts. According to Mike Perrier, an organizer of the event, Unbroken Wings booked all their talent before the pandemic for the 2020 festival. Due to the pandemic however, the festival had to be cancelled in 2020.

“We took a little bit of a loss with a lot of things,” said Perrier, regarding the pandemic. “It’s been very difficult.”

According to Perrier, this year’s festival was supposed to occur in Millside Park, but the organization found out in May that the park was not going to be rented out for any major events for the foreseeable future. The festival, which was supposed to happen in June at Millside, had to be cancelled again.

After that occurred, Molitoris Orchard reached out to Unbroken Wings and said that they would be willing to host the festival on Aug. 14, according to Perrier. Because it has been so long, Perrier said that there have been some changes to the festival’s lineup due to scheduling changes, but most of it is still intact.

Unbroken Wings is a 501(c)(3) organization that was started by Perrier and two of his friends as a way to do good deeds in the community, specifically at Baystate Children’s Hospital. Normally, the group works with Shriners Hospital for certain fundraising events, but now they have started to work with Baystate on fundraising events.

“It was obvious to us that [Baystate] could use the assistance more than the Shriners could,” said Perrier. “And they were ecstatic about it.”

According to Perrier, Unbroken Wings books these events through tons of networking. For example, the pro wrestling event is spearheaded by Kevin Landry’s Pro Wrestling Combine in Holyoke, which is an organization that “gives children a reason to get off the streets.”

“He trains them to wrestle, and then he puts on shows at his place to give kids places to go,” said Perrier. “I thought that was a great combination, and he’s been super helpful in putting together these shows for us.”

Noah Lis, who appeared on the NBC show “The Voice,” will be doing all the staging and sound system. He will be hosting the festival as well.

Gates will open at 2 p.m. for the festival and promptly close at 10 p.m. Guests are invited to come for as long as they want and whenever they want. Tickets are $20 per person prior to the event and $30 per person if purchased at the gate. Children under 12 can get in for free. All ages are allowed. A motorcycle ride at Roland’s Motor Works will occur during registration at 11 a.m. and continue until the festival begins.

“It’s been working out very well,” said Perrier, regarding the August festival. Fireworks are usually included in the festival, but Perrier said that they still need to figure out if they can be allowed this year.

Tickets are selling very well so far, and Perrier said that he expects a turnout of around 2,000 to 3,000 people to show up for this year’s festival. For more information on the festival, people can visit https://www.thunderinthevalleyfestivalma.com/home. People are encouraged to bring chairs and blankets.

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