Berkshire Busk! Courtyard Weekends Draw Serious Acts to the Streets of Great Barrington

Celebrated Cellist Yo-yo Ma in a suprise apearence at Berkshire Busk. Image by Yonah Sadeh.

August 21–22 | Great Barrington, MA | Free

Berkshire Busk! continues its Courtyard Weekends series in the Barrington House Courtyard, with a different lineup each night. Friday brings Brian Hailes, a trained opera singer whose sets range across folk, rock, blues, country, jazz, and Broadway — with a stray bit of Mozart not out of the question—alongside Chroma Chameleon Face Painting for kids. Saturday shifts to traditional Irish dance from Scoil Rince Bréifne Ó Ruairc, followed by singer and multi-instrumentalist Mike Pagnani playing folk tunes, with balloon artist Balloon Ben working the crowd. Willy Welch, known for writing "Right Field" and dozens of songs for PBS's "Barney & Friends," opens the day earlier with a 10am set at the Great Barrington Farmers Market, and Joel Blumert brings finger-style blues and ragtime to Berkshire Mountain Distillers from 3 to 5pm.

Berkshire Busk! has built its identity around exactly this kind of low-barrier, street-level programming—free, informal, and centered on downtown Great Barrington rather than a single venue. The festival's reach got a real boost two weekends ago, when a partnered evening with the Tanglewood Music Festival brought Yo-Yo Ma out to join the buskers for a surprise appearance, an unforgettable night the organizers are still posting footage from. Free through Labor Day; a few Saturdays remain in the season.

Barrington House Courtyard, 284 Main St., Great Barrington, MA. Free. Full schedule at berkshirebusk.com.