Tomorrow the annual Greenwich Town Party will once again prove why it’s the hottest ticket in town.
The town party was born of an idea that Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio had while on a trip with his wife, Barbara, to Spain.
“Ray noticed that all the great towns in Europe had their own town party,” said Ray Rivers, co-president and director of development for the GTP. “They would see everyone in the town participate in these parties. It was like the town shut down. Greenwich is a great town, so why not start a local town party movement in Greenwich?”
From there, Dalio set the wheels in motion to get the town party started.
In 2010, the GTP held its inaugural event, with blues guitarist Buddy Guy headlining.
The GTP team has since been bringing the community together with great music each Memorial Day weekend, though there have been minor road bumps along the way.
“In the first years, Ray Dalio made sure we could even have a party,” Rivers said. “The idea was that we wanted everyone to be able to come. We wanted to be a party for the community.”
Held at Roger Sherman Baldwin Park, the town party in its first year only had a few dozen sponsors. This year, Rivers says, is the first in which the party has actually sold out of the sponsor tickets, reaching over 1,000 sponsors.
“I’m so happy to say we sold out of every sponsor ticket this year,” Rivers said. “We’ve really come a long way as a community, and they’ve embraced the message.”
This year, general admission tickets for the community-driven event sold out in about 20 minutes.
“There’s a way for everyone to participate” Rivers said. “The party is greatly supported by volunteers and local businesses in the community. We also rely on our sponsors greatly.”
The all-day party will feature six mainstage acts and seven town stage acts. Headlining will be Daryl Hall and John Oates, who are set to take the stage at 8:15 p.m.
The 12-hour-day will kick-off with children’s activities at 10 a.m. followed by the Star Spangled Banner performed by Pamela Kuhn at 11 a.m. on the main stage.
John Fogerty, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Lions on the Moon with Bobby Paltauf and C.J. Chenier and the Red Hot Louisiana Band will make up this year’s mainstage acts.
On the town stage, Shane Kirsch & Rang-a-Boom, Charlie King and The Next Big Thing, Blue Avenue Groove with Elise Testone, Kalimur, Anitra Brooks, Echoes, and the John David Pinto band will all perform.
Food will be served from numerous local vendors, and a silent auction running through Sunday can be found online at GreenwichTownParty.com.
For the GTP organizers, the main ingredient for the party will undoubtedly be the people who make up the event, whether they are volunteers, musicians, local vendors or just residents of Greenwich.
“One of our favorite stories is when we were told by a partygoer that they ended up dancing with the checkout girl from the grocery store,” Rivers said. “These are the people in our community and who make Greenwich great.”
