By During Levitate music festival some concert goers were treated to more than a great set.
They got a love story.
Scituate native Grace Ann Ahl, – known better as “Gracie Grace” – and her band Gracie Grace and all the Good Boys, were asked to play the festival for the first time this year, which was a huge honor in itself for her.
But at the end of the band’s set last Sunday, Ahl’s longtime boyfriend, David Dockendorff, also a Scituate native, walked onto the stage, got down on one knee, and proposed to her in front of a crowd of hundreds of people.
“It was an amazing experience,” Ahl said this week.
During the set, she had played a new song she wrote about meeting Dockendorff, and their life together.
“I saw him walking up on stage at the end of the set,” Ahl said, noting Dockendorff had a microphone and was walking up onstage saying, “Give it up for Gracie Grace.”
“Then he proceeded to get down on one knee and he asked me to marry him,” Ahl said. “I said yes.”
She noted this was the biggest crowd the band had ever played for, and the marriage proposal made it even more amazing.
“It was a bigger finale than I ever could’ve planned,” Ahl quipped.
“I was planning on asking her to marry me next month (August),” Dockendorff said. “But when she found out she would be playing at Levitate, I knew I had to do it there. It turned out being a momentous occasion for her, and for us.”
Who are Gracie Grace and all the Good Boys?
The the blues/rock-driven band is a staple in the local music scene. Gracie Grace and all the Good Boys formed in 2020 during the COVID lockdown and has played several festivals on the South Shore, including South Shore Femme Fest, the Mad Love music festival and the South Shore Eco Fest.
The group won a contest sponsored by Levitate to play at the festival.
In addition to Ahl, the other members of Gracie Grace and all the Good Boys include bassist Declan Kelehan, drummer Ken Dellot, keyboardist Josh Hamblin, guitarist Andrew Cornish and saxophone player Brian Rowe.
At the Levitate set, the band also welcomed guest vocalists. One of them was Ahl’s younger brother, Charles, and the other was Viv Doughty.
Ahl added that Dockendorff is like a member of the band.
“David is like our manager,” Ahl said of her new fiance. “He does so much for the band. He’s collected money for tickets at gigs, he’s helped design merch, and he’s just very supportive overall.”
How long has the couple been together?
Regarding his relationship with Ahl, he said that even though the two of them were only a year apart living in the same town, they never met until they were in their 20s.
The two have been a couple for the past seven years.
Ahl said that she wants to thank all the people who came out to the show, along with her family, and the rest of her band. She said she was “so happy” that she got to share her set – and her engagement – with all of her friends and family. She also said she wants to thank Levitate for being “a pillar of the community” for the past two decades.
What is Levitate?
Levitate is a shop in Marshfield that originally opened in 2003 to sell clothes and items related to the surf, skate, music and art lifestyles. It has grown into what it is today – the surf shop, a small outdoor music venue called “Levitate Backyard” and the festival itself.
Ahl said she felt such “an outpouring of love” at the Levitate festival this year, something she said she will always remember.
“I am so blessed,” she said.
Ahl said that Norwell native and national touring artist Susan Tedeschi was in the crowd during the last part of her set, and even came backstage to say hello to the band after the set was over.
There were other bands from the South Shore that got to play the Levitate festival this year, including The Rins and The Mark King Band. The South Shore based band, The Elovaters also played the festival, but they had played the festival before. Another South Shore band, Stick Figure, also made an appearance at last week’s festival.
Gracie Grace and all the Good Boys, along with the other South Shore bands who played the festival, can all be heard on Spotify and other streaming services.
