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Date: 6/27/2022
NORTHAMPTON – The Northampton Center for the Arts has announced that the 33 Outside summer dance parties at 33 Hawley St. will return this year across four different days throughout the summer.
The series is an outdoor, family-friendly, community dance party that is free and open to the public.
Carlos Rec McBride, the founder of the series and Center for the Arts board member, told Reminder Publishing that the first 33 Outside occurred in 2021 and was a huge hit for the community.
“I’ve been wanting to create a function that allowed people to come together without feeling like they have to subscribe to a particular thing,” said McBride. “I wanted to create something that brought people outside and hang out.”
McBride, who has been a community organizer and educator for a number of years, wanted to create something that brings people to the ever-growing Hawley Street so more residents can be aware of the building and the artistic palette it can offer.
“I just figured this would be a great marriage of ingredients to bring all of these folks together,” said McBride. “It was a big hit last year. It was one of the most inter-generational, multi-race events that I’ve been able to be a part of.”
The dance parties will take place from 7 to 9:30 p.m. July 1 and 22, Aug. 12 and Sep. 2. Food, beer and wine will be available for purchase from local vendors, including Brewja Brewing Co., Crooked Stick Pops, Caravan Kitchen and Holyoke Hummus.
Additionally, DJs from Peace & Rhythm, which is a Northampton label and collective that McBride DJs with, will also provide genre-defying music throughout the entire series. The label, which includes artists like DJ Andujar, DJ Bongohead, and DJ Studebaker Hawk, specialize in many different kinds of music like world, funk and jazz.
“We only use vinyl, and we bring some instruments,” said McBride, when asked what people should expect music-wise. “There’s no pretentious element. It’s just us bringing a good time for the people.”
To learn more about what to expect at these dance parties, visit the event’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/events/1398874450540540/.