CHATEAUGAY — The Gibson Brothers. Beartracks. Caroline O'Connor. Crossing North. John Kribs and Gwen Tracy.

The second-annual Adirondacks Unplugged Music Festival on Saturday, July 11, brings a more eclectic offering of performers to the stage this year at Chateaugay Recreation Park.

"Caroline O'Connor has a kind of jazzy sound to her," said event co-coordinator Bill Fitzgerald. "Gwen, she opens her mouth and your jaw just drops — she's just that good."

Reminiscent of Janis Joplin, Bonnie Raitt.

"And Crossing North has a very folk sound."

Recently, Beartracks (Tom Venne, Julie Venne Hogan and Junior Barber) played the Jenny Brook Family Bluegrass Festival in Vermont, as did the bluegrass-picking Gibson Brothers.

"They went over really good," Eric Gibson said of Beartracks. "They're a real good old-school country-sounding band, I think. The kind of country I like."

Expect a lot of original songs from Crossing North (Bruce Lawson and Jen Carter-Kelly), Gibson continued.

"Jen is a real good writer."

'RUN SO SMOOTHLY'
Last year's Unplugged drew a crowd of 650, raising $10,000, some of which benefitted the library in Chateaugay.

The Gibsons (Eric and Leigh Gibson, Mike Barber, Clayton Campbell, Joe Walsh) didn't hesitate to sign on again for this year.

"I've seen a lot of first-time events," Gibson said. "This one was run so smoothly — they really did their homework, from parking cars, getting vendors, hiring a great sound engineer ..."

That last is considered vital by the Gibson Brothers; they were glad to hear the same crew would return this year. In the grander scheme of things, Gibson is delighted to see Unplugged taking off.

"I love the idea of having a quality acoustic event in my backyard," he said.

It's not just the folk/bluegrass festival, however, for Fitzgerald and co-coordinator Jason LaManna see the Adirondacks Unplugged umbrella stretching to encompass a broad offering of entertainment. Toward that aim is the Theater Camp for kids taking place in the Chateaugay Theater, which will culminate in August with a play, likely a murder mystery. A grant from North Country Cultural Center for the Arts makes it possible to charge just $25 per child for the camp experience.

And from 6 to 8 p.m. July 25 is an Adirondacks Unplugged fundraiser accessible by car or boat featuring Howard Jennings of Potsdam (acoustic guitar, vocals) at Hollywood Restaurant on Route 374 in Chateaugay. Cost will be $5 and food will be available for purchase, with proceeds going to the P.K. Curtin Fund, which supports Chateaugay activities and development.

The take from the Unplugged Festival, which is hosted by the Chateaugay Rotary Club as well as the Gibson Brothers, goes to the club's Chateaugay Village Development Fund.

The big objective is to renovate the theater in the Chateaugay Town Hall building, Fitzgerald said, "so it becomes a vehicle for more Adirondack Unplugged events, so in the summer months, (Chateaugay) can become a very busy hub for music and theater."

Last fall, consultant Eric Granger of Lake Placid Productions assessed the theater, coming up with a variety of options for renovation. The plan that best fits the hoped-for use of the place, which shares the building with the town offices, would add lighting, purchase some equipment, improve the acoustics and make other upgrades for about $85,000.

"We've got some more fundraising to do," said Fitzgerald, expressing appreciation for local businesses and groups that help sponsor the festival and support the Chateaugay community.

And they'll try to tap into state funding sources as well.

ECLECTIC ENTERTAINMENT
Improving the acoustics would make the theater far more performance friendly, said Gibson, whose band performed there a few times in recent years.

"There's very little to absorb the sound," he said. "It's a lot of brick and hardwood.

"I think that theater has a lot of potential — it's very pleasing to the eye; it deserves to have a sound that matches the physical makeup."

But first, the festival.

There's room for way more than a crowd of 650, Fitzgerald said. And should it rain, there's a large enough pavilion to provide shelter.

"I can't imagine we'd ever have to turn anybody away," he said. "We've got a huge space."

The Gibson Brothers, he said, "seem to have a sound that appeals to those who aren't real bluegrass fans."

And the diversity of the other groups, he hopes, will see all that space more crowded than it was last year. That departure from mostly bluegrass is fine by Gibson.

"I just like music," he said. "If it's played well and done from the heart, I like it."

The festival is a real family event, Fitzgerald said. "Kids can wander around; they're away from the street."

And with the show wrapping up at 8 p.m., "if somebody wants to beat it back to Plattsburgh to see the (Mayor's Cup) fireworks, they've got plenty of time."

E-mail Suzanne Moore at: smoore@pressrepublican.com