A group of local musicians, artists and craft brewers will meet Saturday for a live music event in downtown Hyattsville showing how the area has reached a critical mass.

The first-ever HyFest will be held at the new Polka Dot Park at 4320 Hamilton St., featuring D.C. rockers Unring the Bell, Baltimore reggae band The Scotch Bonnets, College Park’s artsy Tomato Dodgers and the Proverbs reggae band according to a press release sent to the Hyattsville Wire by Krissi Humbard, the media contact for HyFest.

Like many local music festivals, there will also be craft beer from Silver Spring’s Denizens Brewing Co., soon to open at Riverdale Park Station, and Upper Marlboro’s Calvert Brewing Co., makers of Hyattsville’s Honeyville Ale. Plus Vigilante Coffee, U Street’s Red Onion Records, Mister Magic ice cream and Silver Spring screenprinters Soul & Ink will also be in attendance.

The event, which will go from 4 to 10 p.m. with a $15 requested ticket donation (kids under 18 are free and you can get your tickets for only $10 if you buy them before Saturday at 5 p.m. online or at the door), is the exact kind of thing that the Route 1 corridor has been seeking for years, but it took a concerted effort for all the pieces to fall in place.

Polka Dot Park would not exist without the dedication of the arts-oriented crowd of the SoHy Collective. Denizens would not be interested in the event if Riverdale Park Station hadn’t been developed. And Vigilante Coffee and Red Onion Records are the kinds of local businesses that eventually arise in an arts-oriented area.

All of this will take place within a short walk of  Franklins restaurant and brewery, Vigilante, Busboys and Poets, Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, Artist & Craftsman Supply and the future locations of Sangfroid Distillery and Streetcar 82 Brewing Co. And if you wanted to walk just a little farther, Pizzeria Paradiso.

All of this makes a family-friendly music festival with craft beer an easy sell for organizers. And if it’s successful, expect it to join the annual Hyattsville Arts & Ales Festival on the regular calendar.

HyFest is being sponsored by Urban Investment Properties in partnership with Hyattsville Community Development Corporation.