THE STORY OF THE ROMP

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RiverJam Romp is an annual weekend-long, all-ages, community-rich celebration rooted in sharing and evolving the traditional local music and dance traditions of the Southern Vermont region. Come for the weekend, come for a day, bring your family and friends, and be part of the dynamic legacy of our local traditions!

The Romp began in 2021 as a creative spark among four friends: Peter Siegel, Mary Fraser, Amanda Witman, and Louisa Engle. With a common commitment to building inclusive communities and a desire to recognize and uplift our locally rooted music and dance traditions, we put our heads together and dreamed up RiverJam Romp.

Collectively, we have been inspired by a number of music and dance camps, including Maine Fiddle Camp, Pinewoods/CDSS, Ashokan, John C. Campbell Folk School, Meadowlark, TradMaD, and more. All of these serve their regions well, but they require significant travel for those in our area. We thought, why not keep it local and create a new camp right here at home? So that's what we did!

Our local traditions have essential roots in Southern Vermont (VT), the Monadnock Region (NH), and the Pioneer Valley (MA), across rivers, mountains, valleys, and state lines. "Let's make it about jamming and romping and having fun! And our location near the mountains and the rivers!" So we named it RiverJam Romp. 

That's a good start, but we're not finished... Our vision is much bigger than a single camp. We want to develop other events to support and carry forward musical community, collaboration, and the evolution of traditions So we started a nonprofit, Southern Vermont Traditional Music, Inc. (SVTM), under the auspices of CDSS. SVTM is currently a co-sponsor of the Village Dance and the Brattleboro Dawn Dance. 

We owe a debt of gratitude to all who have inspired us and brought us to this point. We hope you will join us in carrying our beloved traditions through to the generations that follow us.

Join us this year for the Romp, or donate to support Southern Vermont Traditional Music, or join our mailing list to hear about other ways to connect with each other and with the music.  We can't wait to romp with you!

Logo credit: Satya Moses

Photo credit: Julia Friend