In true Colgate fashion, the Barge Canal Coffee Co. celebrated its 13th birthday with 13 hours of music and 13 performers on Saturday.
When the celebration started at 10 a.m. at the university-run coffeehouse in downtown Hamilton, Colgate students, faculty both past and present, and families from the area started to fill the place that many call the “living room of the community.”
“It’s my favorite place in town to showcase my new music,” said songwriter and Hamilton resident Daryl Wilson, who started off the day with a children’s show.
“We try to play [at the Barge] once a semester because it’s a really fun hometown gig,” said Brendan O’Connor ’09, who performed with his band, Same Blood Folk. The other band members are from Hamilton, making them an obvious choice as one of the 13 performers of the day. (The No. 13 has special significance for Colgate.)
Other performers included Earthman Embassy, a Colgate student rock band well known around campus, Emilee Smith, a 15-year-old pianist and singer from the area, and a jazz quartet.
“We came in with the idea of creating a magnet for students,” said Michael Cappeto, who was vice president and dean of the college when The Barge was launched in 1996.
The Barge not only provides a relaxing and welcoming space for Colgate students, but has also jump-started businesses in downtown Hamilton and helped improve relations between the university and the town, administrators say.
“It’s been a success since the day we opened in bringing the community and the college together, and I’m so proud of that,” said Judy Schenk, who co-manages the coffeehouse with Susan Pasachnik.
The steady stream of enthusiastic people from both the university and the town entering The Barge all day was certainly proof of that.