As the season winds down, I wanted to give a little shoutout to West Chester’s re-emerging summer music scene. Two years ago at this time, I chatted with local musician Nikki DiGiorgio as she prepared to launch the first-ever Look Around Festival. Her vision for the end-of-summer festival was in part to give local talent a stage.

“The abundance of talent that lives in this town is astonishing,” she told me at the time.

She was not the only one to notice.

Earlier that same year, Downtown West Chester brought us Fete de la Musique, now known simply as World Music Day, and the West Chester Green Team introduced us to a little idea called, Porchfest. In its first year, Porchfest welcomed 53 performers on 31 porches. This year the festival staged 103 performers across eight Borough Streets. Then last year, Uptown Theater partnered with Taylor Music to put their own spin on exposure, introducing Taylor-Made at Uptown, a singer-songwriter competition for local musicians.

Add this to the already existing Turks Head Music Festival, which saw a resurgence after changing dates to early June, the concerts in the parks (West Chester, West Goshen, and East Bradford), Music at Marshall, and various Gay Street performances, and summers in West Chester have been rockin’.

Unfortunately, the rest of the year still has some work to do.    

“Seeing the attendance at each of these amazing events is evidence enough of what our mission was trying to achieve,” said Nikki. “I am happy- but there is still room for improvement and we are diligently working year-round to cultivate this scene.”

The Look Around Festival returns Saturday to the grounds of the Elk Lodge on W. Washington St. There will be a full visual production with large-scale decorations, live actors, art installations, projections, vendors, food trucks, a cash bar, and more. The concert opens at noon with a performance by Elise Acoustic and continues until 2 a.m. “The first 2 years were about building a foundation,” said Nikki. “[This year], we had more time and energy to dedicate and nurture a theme from the inside out.”

(In case you were curious, that theme is “Egyptian space oasis” and there will be a costume contest. Also, here are some valuable tips on parking, kids, under 12 are free, and outside beverages – they are not allowed.)

---

Originally published on Aug. 23, 2024

This story was part of a longer West Chester newsletter featuring all the news and events of the week. Curious what else is going on? Subscribe now to get the full story. New issues come out on Fridays!