Westchester’s 47th Annual Jewish Music and Arts Festival returned to the Kensico Dam Plaza’s free parking in Valhalla this past Sunday, noon to 6 p.m., providing music, entertainment, performers and kosher food vendors under a glorious blue sky, free of rain. This year’s Music and Arts Festival saw a huge and enthusiastic turnout, filling the Dam Plaza area, and spilling over onto shaded benches where some people chose to sit.
A harmony-driven folk group, The Levins, started the festival at noon, followed by the WonderSpark Puppets show, the Liz Queler Band and the Urban Garage. The famous singer Neshama Carlebach performed with her band, members of the Gospel Choir, for well over an hour, and also sang with her husband, Rabbi Menachem Creditor. They were followed by juggler Ned Gelfars who entertained both children and adults. Two sessions of spirited Israeli dancing filled the plaza area in front of the tent erected to shield people from the sun.
Westchester’s seven Kol Hazzarim Cantors—Cantor Gil Ezring, Cantor Ines Kapustiansky, Cantor Anna May, Cantor Lauren Phillips Fogelman, Cantor Melissa Puius and Cantor Gaby Schvartz closed out the day’s events with a delightful kumzitz.
More than 50 sponsors included almost every Westchester synagogue, jewelry stores and boutiques, several financial services and kosher food services, including Masala Kraft—Westchester’s only certified kosher vegetarian Indian restaurant—pizza and ice cream stores, camps, nursing home and rehabilitation centers, the PJ Library—which offers free books to children—the Hillels of Westchester, two Israeli dancing programs and the Touro College of Dental Medicine. See more on these sponsors at www.wjcouncil.org.
The Westchester Jewish Council specified that styrofoam was prohibited for food service; no cups, plates or clamshell boxes for eating or takeout; paper plates were provided instead.
The event was organized by the Westchester Jewish Council, which may be contacted at www.wjcouncil.org and (914)328-7001, or [email protected], and supported by Westchester County Executive George Latimer, the PJ Library and Westchester County Parks.
Robert Kalfus has been winning prizes for his photographs since 1970, and was twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Please contact for photography assignments at [email protected] or 917 379-4165.
