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Hobofest renamed Northern Current

SARANAC LAKE — Hobofest has been reborn as Northern Current.

The alternative-folk festival, which ran every Labor Day weekend from 2009 to 2018, has switched hands and changed its sound.

The free music event will be held Sept. 1 from 11 a.m to 10 p.m. at Riverside Park.

For the first six years, Hobofest was held at Saranac Lake’s Union Depot train station, but in 2015 it moved to the band shell in Riverside Park. It was a pivotal moment because that train-hopping-hobo aesthetic was lost. “Northern Current” more reflects the new venue and a modern sound, said festival representative Jess Collier. Riverside Park is on the shore of where the Saranac River is dammed to create Lake Flower.

“The name invokes the water and the river, but the whole thing was about bringing the festival into the new,” she said. “Hobofest focused more on Americana and string music and was based in nostalgia. We’ll have a little bit of that, but we wanted to branch out more: world music, rock, hip-hop.”

Sparrow Smith of Resonant Rogues shows a group of Hobofest fans a line dance. (Enterprise photo — Griffin Kelly)

Right now, there is no lineup for Northern Current, but the event’s website says the festival would add a “more diverse range of music while continuing the spirit of a free, family-friendly festival that’s deeply rooted in the Saranac Lake community.”

In the past, Hobofest would feature mainly folk and Gypsy acts such as local group the Dust Bunnies, Grammy winner Dom Flemons and the eastern-European-inspired Resonant Rogues. There were also acts such as Baby Gramps, who’s kind of like if the circus came to town and brought a steel guitar with it.

“A lot of people are attached to the Hobofest brand and image,” Collier said, “but I hope they’re willing to hop on board with us.”

Hobofest founders and organizers Peter Seward and Todd Smith announced they would step down from their positions and retire the Hobofest name last summer. The end-of-the-summer event was passed on to a group of 15 local music lovers.

“I was sad when they ended it because I’m a fan of music festivals and I don’t like to see them go away,” Collier said, “but I’m glad to have the opportunity to carry it on.

“I think it’s good for tourism, but it’s also a really good way for the community to come together and celebrate the end of summer.”

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