FARMINGTON — Lori “SpoonS” Grassette, and her band mate Bill Hoyt, will be performing and interacting with the public at Meetinghouse Park during Summer Fest this July 25th. Grassette sings and plays a large variety of instruments, which she will bring with her to Summer Fest, but she is best known for her unique ability to play spoons and bones.

The bones, says Grassette, are the oldest instruments known to man. We see bones played on Greek Urns & Roman artwork circa 3300 B.C. This type of rhythm instrument became popular much later in England and throughout Europe. The bones were sometimes called spoons. Now the different types of bones that people play range from animal bones to wooden bones and even metal ones. Grassette says she discovered, while performing in the state of Illinois, that our own president Abe Lincoln has been depicted as having been a bone player!

When Grassette was a child, she learned to play spoons from her Aunt Lorraine Grassette. Her cousin, Scot Grassette, also learned how to perform magic tricks from this same talented aunt. Scot Grassette now owns 49 Franklin Reception Hall and Mystic Theater in Rumford, Maine.

SpoonS performs a mix of Americana style songs ranging from “Oh, Suzanna” to Credence Clearwater Revival, “Down on the Corner” to some bluegrass songs. They usually bring a variety of instruments to demonstrate, some of which they will invite the audience to try, like playing the Cajon drum box. Audiences will experience guitar, banjo, mandolin, ukulele, bones, jews harps, harmonicas, cajon and of course spoons, as well as a few other odd surprises.

Grassette always brings lots of spoons for everyone to try their hand at! She explains, “Our main goal is to engage the audience instead of just performing for them. So if we get them singing, clapping, hooting and hollering, we are very happy! At the very least, we hope to make people smile!”

SpoonS will be playing from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Meetinghouse Park during Summer Fest, on Saturday, July 25th. It will be a very special performance for both children and adults!

For more information on Summer Fest Events, please contact Susun Terese at susun@minikins.org or call 207-491-5533.