Maplewoodstock 2017 Will Feature Los Lobos, Sign Language Interpreters

MAPLEWOOD, NJ — Are you a Los Lobos fan? Wait until you’ve heard them play a show… with sign language interpretation.

The free Maplewood music festival known as Maplewoodstock will host Los Lobos as its headlining band during the 2017 incarnation on Saturday, July 8 and Sunday, July 9 in Memorial Park. See more event details here.

In addition to live music, the annual two-day festival will include local food and arts vendors, a beer garden and a kids zone.

Learn more about the festival and see a full lineup of entertainment here.

ROCK N’ ROLL SIGN LANGUAGE

This year, the festival will debut a new feature: sign language interpreters for hearing impaired attendees.

“This is due to some local volunteers stepping forward to say that is how they want to contribute to the event,” festival organizers stated on the event website. “We are tentatively planning for this to be oriented Stage Left / House Right (aka the right side of the stage as looking from the audience). Due to logistics, we cannot mark off the lawn as any reserved space for the hearing-impaired, but we may make some announcement and perhaps plant a sign in the vicinity appealing to the better nature of our attendees to yield some space to those who need the sightlines to our interpreters.”

Organizers added:

“Our volunteers have stated that they will be able to interpret each day's headliners, but their ability to cover bands earlier in the day will depend on their ability to recruit other volunteers. At this date, we would guess that bands from 4 or 5 p.m. onwards would have sign language interpretation.”

• See related article: Port Authority Cop Uses Sign Language To Bridge Communication Gap

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Photo: Maplewoodstock

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