Thousands Show For Bensalem Fall Festival
by Alex Lloyd Gross
The 34th annual Bensalem Fall Festival was held at the Township building yesterday and it drew thousands of people. You did not have to live or work in Bensalem to attend and from the areas that people traveled from, that showed, Northampton, New Jersey, Delaware, Chester Counties were just some of the areas that people were from. The main reason was to see Greg Hawkes, founding member of The Cars play with Eddie Japan.
Acrobats and a petting zoo were fun draws for children of all ages. Police officers from the township showed off their motorcycle riding skills with a stunt show. This and the police demonstrations were done at a small parking lot on Knights Road. Some curious drivers would see the crowd and then pull into nearby parking areas and watch the show, even if they had no intention of originally attending the event.
For this festival, there was plenty of handicap and disabled parking. For the most part, there were several food trucks specializing from corn, to french fries and even ice cream. If those delicacies were not to your liking, the snack stand was open as well. Money raised there went to help the Bensalem Lions.
Alex Lloyd Gross Photo Delaware Valley News.com A show for children at the Bensalem Fall Festival.
People were excited about the concert and wanted to stake their real estate on the field early. Some were able to set up their lawn chairs, and waited until the show. That is until township employees chased everyone away from the area. This was confusing to people as they saw some folks had chairs already set up. The employees would yell to them to move and speed over to them in golf carts chasing them away. This included seniors who wanted to walk along the path, which took them past the stage.
Alex Lloyd Gross Photo- Delaware Valley News.com Eddie Japan live in concert.
Instead there should have been signage, closing the area. That way there was no confusion. The band did not care if people sat and watched the sound check, or asked for an autograph. It was township employees that put a stop to that. They even put up yellow tape around the chairs but kept everyone back 100 feet from that. When the area was open, fans just walked over the tape which was quickly taken down. Many were confused as to why it was there in the first place.
The band is called Eddie Japan. There is no band member by that name. Just like there is no one named Pink Floyd, or Jethro Tull. This band played nothing but the music of the cars. The first Cars album was epic. Every song was played on local radio. Last night, this band played just about every song from that record. David Santos, (co lead singer) and Emily Von Arger (the other co lead singer) got people moving as Hawkes pretty much stayed behind the keyboards.
The first two records from the Cars are the ones that most people are familiar with. They did play Drive and other songs that got airplay locally from other records. Back in the day, Philly had WMMR, WYSP and WIOQ and they all played rock and .they all helped break this band in Philly. When they released Panorama in the middle of 1980, Greg Hawkes said it was bashed by the critics. This record includes such songs as Touch and Go and Misfit Kid.
Alex Lloyd Gross Photo Greg Hawkes from the cars plays in Eddie Japan.
The most rousing songs played by Eddie Japan were of course Moving In Sterno and All Mixed Up. The band took a photo with the fans from the stage and the crowd was not having it. It was not time to go. They called them back for the encore of Lets Go. The band’s music was top notch but they need work on their website. Who is who in the band? The one inch photos of the band members are of little help. These talented musicians need to be front and center.
A short while later, an amazing fireworks display took to the sky, painting it with color as the stage for the amphitheater was lit in red white and blue. True to their word, the band then came out and met about 50-75 people that waited patiently for autographs and selfies. This was paramount to people that wanted to meet the band and this was done right. No one was pushed through like paid meet and greets with some bands.
Alex Lloyd Gross Photo Delaware Valley News.com People enjoy the petting zoo.
As people left,they got to watch a disaster happen on TV as the Phillies lost the playoff game to LA. The game was on under the tent and people could stay until the very end. A handful of folks did just that.