Cal Poly Plant Shop hosts Fall Festival with music, plants and more
The Cal Poly Plant Shop staged its Fall Festival as a benefit for the Cal Poly Cat Program on Oct. 21-22. As part of the festivities, local musicians Jill Knight and Brynn Albanese performed a calming set of stirring folk music on Saturday.
The Leaning Pine Arboretum served as a fitting environment for the artists, as Knight, Albanese and bassist Eric Williams performed a series of tranquil original songs and covers — ranging from “Closer to Fine” by Indigo Girls to “Tennessee Whiskey” by Chris Stapleton.
Each instrumentalist had time to shine: Knight exercised her expressive vocals and percussive strumming on the original song “Matching Your Vibrations,” which she self-effacingly described as “her attempt at a reggae song.” Albanese showcased her harmonic lines on the violin through the original ballad “Jeans.” Williams replicated the blissful-yet-busy bassline of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” with confidence.
Williams attributed the band’s onstage experience and chemistry to the fact that he, Knight and Albanese had been playing together for nearly 20 years.
An unexpected star of the show was Knight’s pet corgi, who roamed off-leash during the set and even hopped onstage for a brief second. The dog was conspicuously present during an equipment failure early on, which Knight mocked “was not the dog.”
At the entrance of the Poly Plant Shop, the cat program allowed attendees to meet its adoptable animals. Before the festival ended on day one, the Cal Poly Creamery had sold out of ice cream.
The rest of the event featured locally-made pottery, as well as Cal Poly-grown flowers, house plants and succulents potted in pumpkins available for purchase. The greenhouses thrummed with the constant flow of people of all ages entering with nothing and leaving with armfuls of plants.
