Peter, Paul & Mary perform old favorites for enthusiastic crowd

A hot, dusty breeze blew across the Blue Hill Fairgrounds yesterday as thousands of fans listened to the legendary folk group Peter, Paul and Mary, who gave a benefit concert following the WERU-FM Full Circle Summer Fair held earlier in the day. Young and old, native and newcomer, and even Gov. John McKernan and Rep. Olympia Snowe turned out for this charitable event, which will donate proceeds to WERU (89.9 FM) in Blue Hill, H.O.M.E. Co-op in Orland and the EMMAUS Shelter in Ellsworth.

“This is the closing of the circle,” said Mary Travers, refering to a promise each of the musicians made more than 30 years ago. Dedicated to activism and hope, each vowed to play a benefit concert with the group. And both Travers and Peter Yarrow have fulfilled that promise. Yesterday, Noel Paul Stookey, a resident of Blue Hill for more than 20 years, made good on his promise, and performed with the group for the first time in Blue Hill. And people came from all over the country to hear it happen.

During the first half of the concert, the trio performed primarily from the 1992 release “Peter, Paul and Mommy, Too,” a collection of children’s songs. The hands of time seemed to turn back for many nostalgic parents and grandparents in the crowd during “Puff (The Magic Dragon).” And children danced during animated versions of “Inside” and “Garden Song” (by Maine composer David Mallett).

No Peter, Paul and Mary concert would be complete without the audience joining into the songs, and in their inimitable way, the singers inspired the audience to lift its voice in song particularly during “Home of the Range/Don’t Ever Take Away My Freedom” and several of the children’s songs. The beauty of their own powerful harmonies rose above the crowd during the anti-war ballad “Where Have All the Flowers Gone.”

The second sesion of the concert featured the Yarrow and Stookey as soloists, accompanied by bassist Dick Kniss. Travers also sang, and was accompanied by the men. Yarrow’s group-sing of “We Shall Overcome,” and Travers’ “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and “Leaving on a Jet Plane” were the most popular of this part of the show.

Stookey’s music, a rhythmic instrumental with Kniss and a folk-rock tune about love, were exceptionally lovely. This was his home crowd, and the friendship he feels for his neighbors was apparent. During a brief speech, he quite warmly expressed his thanks to the many helpful volunteers for the event, and rightfully applauded the skillful sound technicians who made the concert as audible in the far reaches of the field as it was close to the stage.

The sun was setting over Blue Hill Mountain in the distance as the melodies continued among these old friends, who often smiled among themselves, hugged and joked.

Inside the entry gate, people were sprawled on the grass and on blankets. Outside the concert boundaries, other crowds gathered on fences and roadsides just to listen to this momentous concert. Yarrow said that folk leader Pete Seeger in his time, and Peter, Paul and Mary in their time, thought they would see an end to poverty, injustice and war. This concert, and the 60 dates a year that this trio plays together, are a sign of their continuing commitment to struggles for social justice.