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John and Piper Carey, on either side of Harwich Historic and Historical Commission member Paul Doane, receive the 2026 Historic Preservation Award for preservation of the former West Harwich Schoolhouse during a presentation Monday. WILLIAM F. GALVIN PHOTOS

Harwich Honors Historic Preservation Efforts

September 16, 2026

HARWICH - The town’s first three Preservation Awards were presented during the select board’s meeting Monday.The Preservation Awards are an...

The Harwich Cranberry Arts and Music Festival features a large crafts fair over the weekend. FILE PHOTO

Harwich Cranberry Festival Gets Underway Saturday

September 16, 2026

HARWICH – The Harwich Cranberry Arts and Music Festival gets underway on Saturday, featuring activities and attractions through late afternoon on...

Select Board member Jeffrey Handler put forward the motion to send a letter opposing the Mass Ready Act on Monday night. WILLIAM F. GALVIN PHOTO

‘Erosion Of Local Authority’; Select Board Opposes Mass Ready Act

September 16, 2026

HARWICH – Town officials are opposing the Massachusetts Ready Act currently working its way through the state legislature out of concerns that the...

Lt. Adam Laplante makes a brief presentation during the 9/11 commemoration ceremony held Friday at the Robert A. Peterson Firehouse in Harwich.

Harwich Remembers 9/11 Attacks With Reverent Silence

September 16, 2026

HARWICH – Close to 100 people turned out for the 25th anniversary 9/11 ceremony on Friday morning at the Robert A. Peterson Firehouse on Sisson...

The late Judy Ballantine’s paintings will be on display at the Cultural Arts Municipal Building. WILLIAM F. GALVIN PHOTO

Exhibit Shines A Light On Judy Ballantine’s Paintings

September 16, 2026

HARWICH – Judy Ballantine never sought recognition for her artwork, never sought a gallery display for the work she created over years capturing...

own Counsel Amy Kwesell explained the changes made to the state zoning law and the impacts on the zoning board of appeals and planning board. WILLIAM F. GALVIN PHOTO

Major Changes Made To State Zoning Law; Will Benefit Housing...

September 9, 2026

HARWICH – In signing the fiscal 2027 state budget bill July 9, Gov. Maura Healey approved changes to the state zoning statute that alters the way...

Town Administrator Jay McGrail pitches a five-year financial plan at town’s first financial summit, FILE PHOTO

Summit Takes In-depth Look At Harwich’s Financials

September 9, 2026

HARWICH – The town’s first financial summit was held on Aug. 27 and included the select board, finance committee, Monomoy Regional School District...

he Rosewood Manor residential care home for seniors has been sold to a Plymouth company. WILLIAM F. GALVIN PHOTO

Rosewood Manor Sold To Plymouth Company

September 9, 2026

HARWICH – Rosewood Manor, the residential care home for seniors in Harwich Center, has been sold. Plymouth-based EF Senior Care purchased the...

Tom Major and Entrain rocking the CranJam Music Festival. Entrain will close out the Saturday, Sept. 19 music festival. FILE PHOTO

[CURRENT WEEK’S PHOTOS / HAR CranJam 1

Katie (Brookhart) Henderson of the Kerosene Heater Band will turn up the temperature at the CranJam Music Festival on Sept. 19 in the tent behind the community center. COURTESY PHOTO

Current Week Photos/ HAR-KHB 1

CranJam Music Festival To Spotlight Local Musicians

by William F. Galvin
HARWICH – Local bands will be the focus of the CranJam Music Festival over the Sept. 19 and 20 weekend.
The music festival is a main attraction for the Harwich Cranberry Art and Music Festival, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year with a crafts fair featuring more than 150 vendors, food trucks, beer and wine, and a drone show.
The CranJam Music Festival will offer a lot of familiar faces on the stage over the weekend, with several bands that have taken part in previous years, led by Entrain, which played at the 25th anniversary celebration and has participated in the CranJam more than any other bands. Longtime participants such as the George Greitzbach Band, the Sarah Burrill Band and the Wampanoag Nation Singers and Dancers will also appear.
“The festival committee said make it as local as possible, preferably all local,” said CranJam Music Director Bob Weiser.
He has done that. Entrain hails from Martha’s Vineyard and Gritzbach and Burrill have played Cape establishments for years. The Wampanoag Nation Singers and Dancers have ties to the Cape’s original inhabitants. The other bands that will be taking to the stage include local musicians like Catie Flynn of Salted Folk, a 2004 Harwich High School graduate, and Katie (Brookhart) Henderson of the Kerosene Heater Band, who is also a 2004 Rough Rider.
The Placeholders came together at Monomoy Regional High School in 2016 and the Friendly Fowl Band is composed of Monomoy Regional High School players and recent graduates. The Natalia Bonfini Band is out of Eastham and Summertown includes a couple of Harwich residents in Fred Ghioto and Rose Martin.
The CranJam kicks off at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 19 with the Wampanoag Nation Singers and Dancers, made up of a group of musicians, educators and artisans from the tribal communities of Mashpee, Aquinnah and Bourne. Their performances of Eastern social songs and dance have both educated and entertained audiences of all ages in museums, schools and various multi-cultural events, said Weiser.
The Sarah Burrill Band takes to the stage at noon. Burrill brings to her music and performance a depth and passion, according to Weiser. Whether she is belting out the blues, crooning a delicate love song, encouraging social consciousness and change, or singing about her pajamas, it is an experience that inspires courage, strength and hope, he said.
At 1 p.m. the acoustic folk duo featuring singer-songwriter Catie Flynn and multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Pat Croke come on board, performing organic, stripped down renditions of folk country blues and classic rock covers along with original material.
The Natalia Bonfini Band takes over at 2 p.m. A blues musician at her core, Bonfini is an award-winning songwriter. Her single “Before” won the New England Songwriters Competition, and she was a top 50 finalist on American Idol’s 20th season.
The Kerosene Heater Band starts cooking at 3 p.m. KHB is a Cape-based rocking country five-piece group fronted by Henderson. The band dipped their feet in the waters of the Cape music scene in 2023 and spent the next winter huddled around a kerosene heater in a barn in Brewster. “The band hit the ground running and has become the Cape’s preeminent rocking country group,” according to Weiser.
The heat does not dissipate when the George Gritzbach Band takes to the stage at 4 p.m.
The late Boston Globe staff music critic Steve Morse said of Gritzbach: ”I have respected George Gritzbach for a long time. He is a keep-the-faith artist with an honest, no-frills voice that sounds equally at home on blues, soul and funk. George can be playful and rock with a Friday night's just-got-paid frenzy, but also has a serious streak as heard in the affecting message song ‘One Race, Many Faces,’ where he urges ‘color-blind human kindness.’”
The temperature continues to rise when Entrain takes to the stage at 5:15 p.m. with more than two hours of resounding percussion-filled rock and roll. The band has been described as “a funky-world jam-ska-reggae-rock stew with enough drums to sink a battleship.”
“Entrain’s goal is not just to be the biggest and best,“ said Tom Major, band founder and former drummer with Bo Diddley. “We want to create music that makes people feel good. When we look out from the stage, all we see is smiling faces of all ages and bodies moving. You can’t beat that feeling.”
Friendly Fowl leads off Sunday’s CranJam at 11:15 a.m. The band includes Monomoy Regional High School players and recent graduates playing an energetic jam fusion that includes funk, psychedelic, jazz, blues, celtic and acoustic folk, said Weiser.
Their high-energy live sets include both original music and unique covers. Members and collaborators include young local musicians such as Macklin Hanlon Devine, Jonathan Ford, Jazzy MacDonald, Eddy Crownshaw, Simon MacBride, Christopher Marchio, Thomas Marchio and Ben McMullen.
SummerTown takes to the stage at 12:15 p.m. Fred Ghioto has an extensive background on lead guitar and vocals and was a founding member of Freddie and the Maybellines, according to Weiser. Ghioto has played in earlier festivals.
Rose Martin, well known around the Cape as a lead vocalist, acoustic guitarist and singer/songwriter, adds her voice and acoustic strumming. Laura Celia on lead vocals and acoustic guitar rounds out SummerTown’s talented lineup, said Weiser.
Closing the day on Sunday, The Placeholders take to the stage at 1:30 p.m. The Placeholders were formed in the summer of 2016 by Monomoy Regional High School students. They play a wide variety of music with a strong classic rock influence, and their repertoire of covers includes an extensive list of favorites spanning the 1960s to the present, noted Weiser.

CranJam Music Festival To Spotlight Local Musicians

September 9, 2026

HARWICH – Local bands will be the focus of the CranJam Music Festival over the Sept. 19 and 20 weekend. The music festival is a main attraction...

Family Pantry Readies For A Long, Cold Winter - Last Chance To...

September 3, 2026

NORTH HARWICH – It’s a sign of things to come. On the past two Saturdays, the number of clients visiting the Family Pantry of Cape Cod has jumped...

Aiden and Sofi Czarnecki enjoy the ice cream provided to students and teachers during a district-wide return-to-school celebration at Monomoy Regional High School Aug. 27.

Ice Cream Social Celebrates Back-to-school At Monomoy

September 2, 2026

HARWICH – Students, families, teachers and staff came together last Thursday afternoon at Monomoy Regional High School for a district-wide event...

Neil Murphy has been appointed the new recreation director in Harwich. WILLIAM F. GALVIN PHOTO

Neil Murphy Is Harwich’s New Recreation Director

September 2, 2026

HARWICH – The select board has affirmed the recommendation of Town Administrator Jay McGrail to appoint Neil Murphy as the town’s new recreation...

Charter commission members work on the update of the town’s home rule charter. FILE PHOTO

Commission OK’s Charter Update Final Draft

September 2, 2026

HARWICH – The charter commission approved its final draft document in its Aug. 27 session and will be sending the updated version of the town’s...

Dan Pelletier of Waterworks Consulting recommended that the town continue a moratorium on variances for additional bedrooms in the Pleasant Bay sewer service area. FILE PHOTO

Sewers Won’t Allow Harwich Homeowners To Add More Bedrooms

September 2, 2026

HARWICH – The town has been receiving an increased number of inquiries from property owners in the Pleasant Bay sewer service area seeking to add...

Contractors work on the siding at Monomoy Middle School Monday morning. ALAN POLLOCK PHOTO

Construction Delays Middle School Opening, But Only By Two Days

August 26, 2026

CHATHAM – The $11.5 million replacement of siding and windows at Monomoy Regional Middle School was always expected to be on a tight schedule. And...

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