Melrose Pop Festival gathers a gang of heady locals to rip it live at the Orlando Public Library

There's so much more to check out than merely books this summer at the Orlando Public Library. For the second summer in a row, the downtown library will be the site of a free music festival.

The Melrose Pop Festival returns Sunday, July 7, to the library's Melrose Center. What started as a one-off event to celebrate the library's 100th birthday has turned into an annual celebration of local music.

"We drew about 300 people to the festival last summer," says the Melrose Center's Jim Myers. "The idea started actually during the show. I remember Beth McKee mentioning, 'Hey, should we do this every year with different artists?' and the library was really pleased with the event and idea."

Myers said that the Melrose Pop Festival, named as an homage to the seminal 1967 Monterey Pop Festival — an event that featured Jimi Hendrix, the Who and the Byrds — is already emerging as one of the library's signature events despite this only being its second year.

This year, the Melrose Pop Festival showcases five Orlando-native musicians during the three-and-a-half-hour event.

From 1:30 p.m. to 5 p.m., performances from festival headliner Terri Binion, Mugs & Pockets, the Tremolords, Amy Robbins in a Sidecar and Universal Funk Orchestra will ring throughout the bookshelves, workstations and study areas on the second floor.

"I'm looking forward to sharing the stage with my friend Amy Robbins and her band," Orlando alt-folk bard Binion tells OW. "The Tremolords are always fun and I'm looking forward to seeing both Mugs & Pockets and the Universal Funk Band live for the first time. So it's just going to be fun to see everyone and just vibe on our community of musicians. "

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Photo by Jim Leatherman

Mugs and Pockets return to Orlando for Melrose Pop

Myers, who is also a local musician and Pop Festival alum with Milk Carton Superstars, says that this year's lineup does right by both the library and the Orlando creative community.

"I think what's really cool about the bill is I really tried to assemble a very good Orlando representation while being eclectic at the same time," says Myers. "I'm really proud of what we've been able to pull off and I'm always very, very proud of the staff and Melrose Center instructors that make the show go."

If you're looking to get a better idea of what exactly a music festival in a library looks like, the Melrose Center recently released Melrose Pop Festival — A Concert Film on its YouTube channel. And it's definitely worth a pregaming view.

Whether you're an avid reader, library devotee or local music lover — or if you're all three — the Orlando Public Library's Melrose Pop Festival is a must-see event. The day will also serve as a great entree into the Melrose Center and all of its innovative programming, along with the services, training and tech the Center makes available to library patrons — including a video production studio, photo studio, fabrication lab and audio production studio.

"I've seen that these innovative centers have been added to libraries all over the country and around the world in addition to, of course, new technologies to enhance the overall experience," reflects Binion, herself a vet of the Melrose in the Mix collab with Central Florida Public Media. "It's great that our central library is forward-thinking and bringing hands-on opportunities for our community, especially for young people who may find it a helpful and hopeful springboard of inspiration as they navigate a meaningful career for themselves."

And we would be remiss if we didn't mention that there will be no shushing on Sunday.

Event Details

Melrose Pop Festival: Terri Binion, Mugs and Pockets, The Tremolords, Universal Funk Orchestra, Amy Robbins in a Sidecar

Sun., July 7, 1:30 p.m.

The Dorothy Lumley Melrose Center 101 E. Central Blvd., Orlando Elsewhere