Free concert featuring Greg Boardman, Chris Robley July 14

Free concert at Franco Center July 14 featuring fiddle and guitar 

PHOTO CAPTION: Chris Robley and Greg Boardman are pairing up for a concert at 1 p.m. Friday, July 14, at the Franco Center, 46 Cedar Street, Lewiston. The duo will perform on fiddle and guitar with some singing and foot-tapping music. RSVP at https://forms.office.com/r/0DMsaGjHsc Submitted photo. 

LEWISTON–The Franco Center is thrilled to announce that Greg Boardman and Chris Robley will perform as a duo in concert at 1 p.m. Friday, July 14, during its open house. The duo’s combined talents include playing the fiddle and guitar, singing, songwriting, and audience engagement.  

Greg Boardman is a longtime fiddler and teacher in the Lewiston and Auburn, Maine community, having been employed as an elementary strings teacher in Lewiston for several decades.  He also teaches at Maine Fiddle Camp, which he helped found in 1994, and plays as a concert, dance and church musician as much as reasonably fits in his schedule.  His love of Franco American fiddling was nurtured by his fiddling elders, such as Simon St. Pierre, Ray Frechette, Lucien Mathieu and Ben Guillemette, each a legend in their own right. 

Chris Robley is a singer-songwriter and award-winning poet who’s made his home in the mill town of Lewiston, Maine. His orchestral indie-pop and folk music has been reviewed and praised by The LA Times, The Boston Globe, NPR’s Second Stage, Performer, and other publications. Skyscraper Magazine said Robley is “one of the best short-story musicians to come along in quite some time.” Robley’s poetry has been published in POETRY Magazine, Prairie Schooner, Poetry Northwest, Beloit Poetry, and more. He is the winner of Boulevard’s Poetry Prize for Emerging Writers, a recipient of a Maine Literary Award in poetry, and was selected by Robert Pinsky as a finalist for the Dorset Prize. “Chris Robley is at the top of his game with his new work.” – KCRW. “Beatlesy goodness featuring deft wordplay delivered through McCartneyish melodies with a Lennonesque rasp.” – Willamette Week. 

Admission to the 1 p.m. Friday, July 14 concert is free and takes place during the Franco Center’s two-day open house from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, July 14 and Saturday, July 15. Reservations are required for this concert. Fill out the RSVP form at https://forms.office.com/r/0DMsaGjHsc  

A cash bar will be available both days. The open house coincides with the Chamber’s RiverFest down the street in Simard-Payne Park. The Franco Center’s venue is at 46 Cedar Street, Lewiston, a short half-mile, seven-minute walk from the Park. Visitors are encouraged to spend the day in the Riverfront neighborhood attending events at both venues.  

For more information about the concert or open house, call 207-689-2000 or visit www.francocenter.org. 

The open house is sponsored by Auburn Savings; Lisa Laliberte, State Farm Insurance; and Maine Community Bank.