27-05-2025
The Vermont Reggae Festival was big in the 1980s and '90s. It's returning this summer.
The Vermont Reggae Festival was a big event in the 1980s and '90s before fading away. It's returning in 2025.
The festival that had taken place in Burlington and Hardwick will come back to Burlington for a one-day event Saturday, Aug. 23 at Switchback Brewing on Flynn Avenue.
The schedule, released May 6, includes Barrington Levy, John Brown's Body, Lambsbread, The Skatalites and the Channel 2 Dub Band. A separate, earlier family show on Aug. 23 has Rock and Roll Playhouse performing the songs of Bob Marley.
Lambsbread was Vermont's top reggae act during the heyday of the Vermont Reggae Festival. The group's members included Bobby Hackney Sr., who in 2023 published a book titled 'Vermont Reggae Fest: The Power of Music,' detailing the event's first five years. Hackney founded the festival and later became known for his previous work with the proto-punk band Death, which led his sons to establish the Burlington rock band Rough Francis.
Hackney is serving as 'ambassador' for the revived festival, which is being presented by the Burlington cannabis company True 802 and by Ed Maier of the concert-promotion company ElmThree in association with The Reggae Takeover. Maier, who recently served as managing partner at the Burlington music venue Nectar's, said 1,500 tickets are available for the festival.
WHAT: Vermont Reggae Fest: A Tribute to Our Roots
WHEN: Saturday, Aug. 23; noon, family show with Rock and Roll Playhouse performing the songs of Bob Marley; 2 p.m., performances by Barrington Levy, John Brown's Body, Lambsbread, The Skatalites and Channel 2 Dub Band
WHERE: Switchback Brewing, Burlington
INFORMATION: $20 for family show; $75 in advance, $85 day of show, $150 VIP tickets for full festival; admission for the family show is included for adults who buy a full-day ticket.
Contact Brent Hallenbeck at bhallenbeck@
This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Vermont Reggae Fest, long dormant, to return to Burlington this summer
