Summer Solstice Music Festival is coming to a Westport yoga center this weekend.

WESTPORT — The Summer Solstice Music Festival planned for this weekend will feature dozens of artists, with the aim of cultivating a healing, spiritual atmosphere.

“We’re choosing to highlight artists that are speaking about mental health and social justice in their work,” said Jessica Howard.

Howard is a co-founder of the Heron Educational Center for the Human Spirit, a Westport-based nonprofit that operates a 22-acre wildlife sanctuary and yoga center and is hosting the festival.

The Summer Solstice Music Festival is planned for June 24 and 25.

Singer-songwriter Tim Hause will headline the event. Apart from that, 29 other artists, many of them local, will perform short sets of one or a few songs. There will also be activities like creative writing workshops, puppet performances and yoga.

Ashley Gallagher and Jessica Howard on the grounds of the Heron Educational Center for the Human Spirit in Westport.
Ashley Gallagher and Jessica Howard on the grounds of the Heron Educational Center for the Human Spirit in Westport.

What is the Summer Solstice Music Festival?

Most of the music will be folk or indie, with some spoken word and hip-hop performers.

“It’s quite an eclectic mix,” Howard said.

The festival is timed to happen close to the summer solstice, which falls on June 21. Howard says the Heron Center places a focus on helping people synchronize themselves with what she described as the earth’s natural cycle.

The grounds of of the Heron Educational Center for the Human Spirit in Westport.
The grounds of of the Heron Educational Center for the Human Spirit in Westport.

Can you camp on the Heron Center grounds in Westport?

Most of the event is free, with paid tickets required for the headline show. There is also the option to camp at the nature reserve during the festival. Overall, organizers are expecting around 400 people to cycle through the festival over the course of the weekend.

Howard said she hopes the festival becomes an annual event. Hosting it in Westport means people from the SouthCoast can access it without traveling all the way to Boston.

The grounds of the Heron Educational Center for the Human Spirit in Westport.
The grounds of the Heron Educational Center for the Human Spirit in Westport.

“This is happening right in your backyard,” she said. “It’s an opportunity for people to be in a beautiful, scenic space.”

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Summer Solstice concert planned at yoga center in Westport