The Greenwich Town Party is this weekend. Here's what you need to know. (2023)

For the first time ever, the Greenwich Town Party also hosted a parade down Greenwich Avenue on late afternoon Tuesday.

Here’s what you need to know about the Greenwich Town Party.

What is the Town Party?

The Greenwich Town Party is an all-day music festival for people that live or work in Greenwich. The Party is a ticketed event and general admission is generally sold out each year.

The first Town Party was back in 2011 and past acts have included the Temptations, Paul Simon, the Eagles, Santana, the Doobie Brothers, Billy Joel and many others. The Party also features local artists and student groups.

The Greenwich Town Party was started by Ray Dalio, a hedge fund billionaire that calls Greenwich home. The event is organized by the Greenwich Town Party, Inc., a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. The party is not affiliated with the Town of Greenwich. The cost of the party is mostly covered by sponsors offering donations.

Can you still get tickets?

All the general admission tickets for this year’s Greenwich Town Party have already been claimed.

The GTP is so popular that organizers implemented a ticket lottery in 2018 to deal with the high demand and this year’s lottery closed on April 7. There were 6,000 general admission tickets (called Community tickets) available this year and all were claimed during the lottery. The event's full capacity is 8,000.

There are some Neighbor tickets left, which start at $500 and there are also some Sponsor tickets available, which start at $1,500 for one pass, but that level is going quickly and organizers expect to sell out.

The GTP is also only open to people that live or work in Greenwich, so visitors from neighboring Stamford or Port Chester, N.Y. are not allowed to purchase tickets themselves. People outside of town can attend, so long as a Greenwich resident or worker buys the tickets.

This year GTP hosted a free and open to all parade on Tuesday ahead of the event to include people that didn't get a ticket to the Saturday show.

What’s the lineup this year?

This year the Greenwich Town Party is foregoing its traditional headline act for a “Preservation Hall Super Jam” inspired by the collaborative style of music popular in New Orleans.

The Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Wyclef Jean, Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews, Ivan Neville, Irma Thomas, Cyril Neville, George Porter, Jr., Eric Krasno, Raymond Weber, Tony Hall, Celisse and Tarriona “Tank” Ball will perform on the Main Stage in what the organizers are calling a New Orleans "once-in-a-lifetime collaboration."

The Revivalists, Mavis Staples and The Dirty Dozen Brass Band will also perform on the main stage ahead of the big jam. Ben Jaffe of Preservation Hall Jazz Band and multi-Grammy Award winner Eric Krasno are curating the music for the event.

The Town Stage features local artists and this year the following acts will perform: Drew Angus, Pete Francis, the Greenwich High School Jazz Ensemble, Brunswick Music Improv, Kings Highway, Herman & Company and Bennie Rose.

The Silver Steel Pan Band will play music as the Party starts and people fill the park.

More information about the artists is available on the GTP website.

What about the parade?

The Greenwich Town Party hosted its first ever parade this year on Tuesday, in an effort to include more people in the fun, since scoring tickets to the big Saturday show is based on luck of the draw.

The parade started at the north end of Greenwich Avenue at Amogerone Crossway. Members of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Preservations Hall Brass Band marched with Greenwich student musicians, local nonprofit groups and more down the Avenue.

The procession ended atthe Havemeyer Field for a “Party in the Park” featuring more live music plus free New Orleans-style king cake and ice cream. PopUp Bagels, Island Fin Poke, Dough Girls, Neil’s on Wheels, LobsterCraft and Wendy's Weenies also had meals available for purchase.

Details for the day of the concert

The Greenwich Town Party goes from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday at Roger Sherman Baldwin Park, 100 Arch St. The event will happen rain or shine, but current forecasts look warm and cloudy on Saturday.

There are some 3,500 free parking spaces are available within a half-mile of Roger Sherman Baldwin Park, including the nearby Grass Island parking lot which is expected to fill up quickly. No parking is allowed on Shore Road.

Visit the Greenwich Town Party website atwww.greenwichtownparty.org/general-information for a full list of nearby parking lots.

TAG will provide shuttle service for GTP ticket holders to reach the PartyatHorseneck Parking Lot, 2 Soundview Drive and Greenwich Town Hall.

Arch Street will be closed to all vehicles on Saturday evening and heavy traffic is expected in the surrounding areas.

Attendees will be subject to search before entering the Party. There are no pets allowed, no glass bottles, no alcoholic beverages, drugs or illegal substances, no weapons, no umbrellas, no blankets, no wagons and no video cameras or recording devices. Visit the Party website for a full list of prohibited items.

Chairs, baby strollers, food and picnics are allowed.

There will be several children's activities — like a bounce house, face painting, an obstacle course and more — as well as food from Allen Pantry, Bella Donna, Burgers Shakes & Fries, PopUp Bagels, Burke Catering, Chipwich, Fjord Fish Market, Longford’s, Maman, and Tomatillo. Some of these vendors will also have special, New Orleans-inspired dishes like gumbo, jampalaya, Po-Boy sandwiches and more.

Children's activities end at 2p.m., but food will be available until the Party ends at 10 p.m.

The schedule is subject to change, but music is expected to start on the Town Stage at 11:20 a.m. and the Preservation Hall Super Jam hits the Main Stage at 7:30 p.m.

People outside the concert can tune into AM 1490 orWGCH.com for live coverage of the event on Saturday.