Skip to main content

punk rock

2nd Annual Punk Rock Picnic offers venue for music fans to hear original local music

By Howard B. Owens
punk rock picnic submitted
Ronald Ratulowski, Bill Hume, and Joseph Maniaci at the 2023 Punk Rock Picnic.
Submitted Photo.

When you find there isn't much of a punk rock scene in your hometown, you create your own. That's the DIY ethic of the punk movement, after all.

That's the inspiration behind the second annual Punk Rock Picnic on Sunday in Genesee County Park & Forest.

"We come from Batavia, and we don't really fit in the Rochester scene or the Buffalo scene," said Ronald Ratulowski, one of the organizers of the picnic. "I'm old enough to know we're not going to create a scene in Batavia so this our scene."

There will be five bands playing on Sunday, the two Ratulowski plays in, Cowboy Vampires and Election Day, plus two bands from Buffalo, Space Cowboys and Bastard Bastard Bastard, and a fifth band, Privatized Air.

"We've played with the bands in Buffalo and liked them and wanted them to join our party," Ratulowski said.

The picnic starts at 11 a.m. in Pavilion 2, with the first band taking the stage at 1 p.m.  Each band will play an hour-long set.

Ratulowski and fellow Cowboy Vampire Chris Humel worked together to organize the event.

There aren't many venues in Batavia that book bands playing original music so this is a chance for people to come out to the park and hear local bands playing their own songs, Ratulowski said.

"They can hear music they might not otherwise hear," Ratulowski said.

Submitted photos from 2023.

punk rock picnic submitted
Chris Humel, Cowboy Vampires.
Submitted photo.

Authentically Local