Forget about fiddleheads, peepers, or maple sugaring. Blackflies are the real harbinger of spring in central Vermont!
Bring your sense of fun and your lawn chairs to downtown Adamant for the 16th Annual Adamant Blackfly Festival. The festival will be held on the beautiful Adamant Music School green beside the Adamant Co-op from 9am to 4pm on Sat. June 2, 2018, rain or shine. The festival is free, for all ages, and more fun than thought humanly possible.

Event schedule:
9:00 Pre-madness meanderings, with local naturalist Richard Czaplinski—a walk along the shores of Sodom Pond examining habitat for flora and fauna

11:00 General mayhem begins:
• Grill opens - jumbo hot dogs, chicken sausage, salmon burgers, black bean burgers, delectable salads and delicious baked goods for sale

Silent Auction opens - local gift certificates, experiences, travel and more great stuff than you can shake a bottle of bug dope at

Live Event: Blackfly Writers' Slam with Geof Hewitt — Bring an original piece of writing that you can present in 3 minutes or less. It does not have to be "poetry," and you can read from the page or recite by heart. Judges, chosen at random from the audience, will score each piece with bragging rights. Lunch on the house for the winner! This slam is hosted by VT's reigning slam champion, Geof Hewitt.

12:00- Live Music: Marianne Donahue-Perchlik. Marianne has been writing songs for over 20 years, often inspired by relationships with her family, animals and the natural world. This spring she is releasing her Dreams Come True cd, featuring the many joys of family life in Vermont.

12:30 - Live Music: The Crones Quartet. The Crones have been singing together for one or two or twenty years, depending on who you are talking about. They are Cecile and Charlotte and Beth from Montpelier, Merry from Northfield, Cybbie from Worcester, and Liz from Greater Adamant.

1:00 Tom Mackenzie & Patti Casey. The acoustic duo known as Shady Rill plays everything from French Canadian Dance tunes to Tin Pan Alley to old time show tunes. Lots of originals, too, with great harmonies and wonderful instrumentation.

1:00 - Blackfly Pie Contest. Come watch as solo cooks and families submit black and blood themed confections to hungry judges, who award entries for Taste, Blackfly Homage, and Artistry. Slices of the winning pies will be sold after the event.

2:00 Blackfly Parade & Fashion Show. Create your own costume, or model one of ours. There will be a marching band, local tractors, and fabulous floats. Not to toot our own kazoo, but past parades have been described as "the Macy's Day Parade of the Insect World!"

2:30 Live Music: Umlaut. Umlaut is Vermont's premiere Polk Rock outfit. Currently hailing from the Plainfield VT area, the three brothers von Umlaut bring the party with a dazzling musical performance that ranges from the cabarets of Weimar Berlin to the Rio Grande. They have a particular genius in converting rock classics to polkas

3:00 — Silent Auction ends, music continues

3:30 Live Music: Rick Winston and Franklin Heyburn. Rick Winston has been playing New England and Celtic music since the early 1970s. He was a member of the Jack's Hill Contra Band, and is the accordion player for the Nisht Geferlach Klezmer Band. Franklin Heyburn is an accomplished fiddler in New England and Quebecois styles.

4:00 - Grill closes. Festival ends. Blackflies all die.

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