OXFORD — Max Creek keyboardist Mark Mercier said he’s excited to return here for this weekend’s Camp Creek festival.

The Connecticut-based group, which played in the inaugural Nateva Festival last year, will be back at the Oxford fairgrounds with Nateva promoter Frank Chandler to celebrate its 40th year as a group and to headline its own Camp Creek festival.

The three-day music event, which runs from Aug. 5 through 7 at the Oxford Fairgrounds off Pottle Road, features jam all-stars Max Creek and more than 40 bands, including local bands Dead Season, Zach Deputy, Exter Vs Kimock, Ryan Montbleau Band, Bow Thayer, Rustic Overtones, Gypsy Tailwind, McLovins and the Mallett Brothers Band.

The Camp Creek concert was originally scheduled for June, but when Nateva was suddenly canceled Max Creek realigned the concert date to this weekend, festival spokesman Jim Britt said.

Mercier, a Maine native who graduated in 1968 from South Portland High school and works as a church musical director and organist in Connecticut, said the move of Camp Creek to fill the August date came about when Max Creek’s manager put a call in to Chandler just as Chandler was making the decision to cancel his Nateva Festival.

“Just as he placed the call Frank was listening to one of our CDs. Stuff like this happens to us all the time,” Mercier said.

Mercier, one of the founding members of Max Creek, said he is looking forward to returning to Maine and Oxford. He joined scores of other musicians in the inaugural Nateva Festival last July.

“We were there last year and stayed quite a bit of the weekend,” he said of Max Creek’s gig at Nateva. “I’d never been to Oxford before. It is a beautiful place and it was a tremendous concert.”

Max Creek has a wide following in Massachusetts and Connecticut, where Mercier attended college in 1968 and where Max Creek launched its career in 1971. They also have a large following in Maine, having played at the Brunswick Hotel in Old Orchard Beach, the former Kayo’s in Portland, Bates and Bowdoin colleges and the University of Maine campuses plus other Maine gigs over the years.

Mercier said festival-goers can expect to hear a tremendous diversity of music.

“You can see any music you want to,” Mercier said.

The lineup includes soul fusion, improvisational jam rock, reggae, folk, and a rocking drum-cello duo, and promises more than a little something for everyone in the family, festival spokesman Jim Britt said.

Performances will take place on four stages throughout the weekend. Bands are scheduled from mid-afternoon through late night on Friday, from late morning through late night on Saturday, and throughout the day Sunday.

Admission for kids 12 and under is free but they must be accompanied by a paid adult. Other festival amenities include free yoga, a local farmers market, free on-site day-parking for ticket holders to come and go all weekend, free tap water throughout the venue, and vendors selling food and merchandise.

Maine residents may attend Sunday by paying $25 at the gate and showing a current Maine driver’s license or an identification with a Maine address, or Maine-based military identification.

ldixon@sunjournal.com

Copy the Story Link