*The five original creators of Waking Windows. Left to Right: Paddy Reagan, Brian Nagle, Matt Rogers, Ali Nagle, Nick Mavodones. Photo courtesy of wakingwindows.com.*

Waking Windows Music and Arts Festival will return to Downtown Winooski for the first time since 2019.

The threeday event will take place from Friday, May 13 to Sunday, May15th. 100 musical performers as well as 50 comedians and DJs will put on the show, according to Brian Nagle, one of five founding creators of Waking Windows.

“[Waking Windows] is kind of like Winooski on steroids for the weekend,” said Nagle. “It’s a huge opportunity to get folks to experience and enjoy Winooski, to magnify what Winooski already is and what’s possible here.”

The headliners this year are Dinosaur Jr. of Amherst, Massachusetts and Philadelphia-based artist Japanese Breakfast. They are joined by a slew of local artists, including Burlington’s Father Figuer and Willverine, who doubles as Winooski teacher Will Andrews.

There will be two outdoor stages: the mainstage, which requires the temporary closure of Winooski Falls Way, will be available Friday and Saturday and the rotary stage will be used throughout the weekend.

Festivities are dispersed across the downtown area, with Waterworks, Four Quarters, and the Winooski United Methodist Church, among other local institutions hosting individual performances.

Greg Davis, owner of Autumn Records, performed at the first ever Waking Windows in 2011. In this coming festival, his vinyl shop will serve as a host for DJ sets all weekend and a musical performance on Saturday night.

“We’ll have DJ’s spinning vinyl up here,” Davis said, motioning to the checkout counter. “People are still able to browse and shop from our records while enjoying the music.”

Waking Windows may primarily be a music festival, but it offers a versatile experience that extends beyond musical artists.

“We have something for everyone, this year we have a lot of auxiliary and alternative programming like the Artist Market, a Kidzone, Drag Queen Story Hour, karaoke, and the Page Burner Reading Series, to name a few,” Nagle said. “We realize that people are interested in more than just one thing and want to celebrate that.”

The Page Burner Reading Series will be hosted in Rosie’s Confections Cafe and provides a platform for local authors to feature their work. Karaoke will be available at the Asian Bistro on Friday and Saturday night, so that “everyone can be a performer,” Nagle said.

The Artist Market, curated by local artist Amy Wild, has been a facet of Waking Windows since 2014. This year, it will take place Saturday from 3-7 and will be located in an empty storefront between Archives and Asian Bistro.

Though the central location is optimal, Wild said that the small space can only accommodate 15 of the 50 artists who applied to participate.

“We choose local artists or vintage sellers or makers who have a really interesting product that we think people coming to the festival will want to buy because our goal is that everyone at the market will be successful,” said Wild. “We’re looking for people who are selling smaller, moderately priced items that people at the festival can pick up and throw in their bag.”

Wild said that the Artist Market is a wonderful outlet to showcase talent and creativity within the community.

“It's a great activity to do during the day for the crowd to go shop and support their local artists and makers but it's also a great opportunity for the artists and makers to get their products out in front of a new crowd,” Wild said.

Waking Windows did not always have such a variety of events or the lively acclaim that it can boast today. It began in 2011 as a brainchild of friends and musicians Paddy Reagan, Nick Mavodones, Matt Rogers, Brian Nagle, and his wife, Ali Nagle.

Nagle, a booker at The Monkey House and a DJ in his own right, said that Waking Windows was forged in the flames of their shared passion for music and curating showcases.

“[The name] kind of has a double meaning. Paddy Reagan made it up. [Waking Windows] was from a lyric that a band that he booked at the Monkey House sang in one of their songs,” said Nagle. “Also, since the festival is in spring and folks are coming out of winter hibernation in VT and coming out to see friends and community/gather again.”

The first-ever Waking Windows took place exclusively at The Monkey House over a period of 11 days. In its genesis, the event drew in anywhere between 20-100 people. With every subsequent year, the festival expanded: this coming May they are expecting a crowd of 5,500-6,000.

“We went from 11 days at one venue to three days at multiple venues around downtown Winooski,” Nagle said. “In the beginning, we were more of a DIY collective, but the past 10+ years we’ve been growing and redeveloping right alongside Winooski.”

When COVID reared its ugly head in 2020, what was meant to be Waking Windows’ 10th anniversary event came to an abrupt halt.

“In 2020, we ended up doing a virtual version that we called ‘Waking Windows At Home.’ We got friends to send us videos of them performing, or teaching how to make a cocktail or do yoga,” Nagle said. “In 2021, we decided to take the year off, we were maxxed out.”

The pandemic has forced Nagle and his fellow organizers to be flexible and scale down in 2022, but he said he’s excited to reunite with the community after a long hiatus.

“With COVID we’ve definitely had to plan for change, which has been a challenge,” said Nagle. “But it's kind of the first big event where folks are coming out and seeing each other again. So I’m looking forward to getting back together with people I haven’t seen in two years and experiencing live music again.”

Check out the Waking Windows website for tickets or more information!