Sat 6/10 @ 11AM-8PM
More than 205 years after Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry rocked and rolled the British Royal Navy, Perry’s Victory and International Peace Memorial will be the site of the inaugural Put-in-Bay Music Festival.
The all-day affair, which takes place Sat 6/10 on South Bass Island, features regional acts Strung Like a Horse, Emily Keener, Mo’Mojo, the Floorwalkers, JP and the Chatfield Boys, the Flyin Jays and Bob Gatewood.
CoolCleveland talked to Put-in-Bay Music Festival organizer Peter Huston, who works with the Put-in-Bay Chamber of Commerce, about yet another reason why during the summer South Bass Island rocks.
How long has the Put-in-Bay Music Festival been on the radar?
We’ve had a number of different concerts at Perry’s Victory, but this year we decided to put on a full-blown music festival. The Chamber is the fiscal member of the festival. We got a grant from the Ohio Arts Council and sponsor money from different organizations. We’re pretty excited about it because in order for it to work we had to get through a lot of bureaucratic red tape at the monument to have a big stage and a cornhole tournament and beverages sold there. It’s been quite a process. Perry’s Victory really sees this as being a great new opportunity.
Can you elaborate on why Perry’s Victory and International Peace Memorial officials were behind the Put-in-Bay Music Festival?
The monument this year is looking for ways to grow their mission which over the last few years it’s been to bring what they call every kid in the park. They look at a kid in a very broad sense being up to 34 years old. So having music like this, a free music concert, helps them to target the demographic they feel is going to be a part of their future. There are a lot of older people who go to the park, but we need to be able to enrich and enliven the attendance through attracting younger members.
When it came to booking the bands, what were you looking for?
We’ve got a lot of topnotch bands coming from all around the region, and we’re kind of excited about what we were able to book. We had a process where we went through and looked at probably 15 different musical acts and had to weigh out how much it costs, logistics of getting them on and off the island and whether or not they were available. It took a while, but we were able to boil it down to about 12. We invited all of them and we ended up with eight really solid acts.
Do any of the acts have a history with Put-in Bay?
A few do, like the Flyin Jays and JP and the Chatfield Boys have played here before. We’re going to have a special performance by Pat Dailey, a real island legend. So those folks have, but people like Emily Keener, she really wanted to play at the island. She’s never performed here before so we’re really excited about her. She represents that younger demographic we’re trying to go after.
What type of attendance are you expecting?
What we’re hoping for is 2,000 to 3,000 people. That would be a nice-sized audience for a day concert.
It would seem as though a musical festival on a small island that is already a major tourist destination offers its fair share of hurdles to pull it off without any issues.
Right. Of course, the logistics are a bit part of it. To be honest, the two biggest challenges to having a musical venue on the island are a place for people to stay and getting them on and off the island. There is only one way to do that, and that’s on the ferry. So when you’re doing a concert on a holiday or a Sunday, you’ve got the regular traffic of people coming over with cars and motorcycles. You have to really work the logistics in order to be able to get the tour buses or vans or equipment trucks here to set up.
Finally, is it safe to assume the Put-in Bay Music Festival is gearing up to be an annual summer tradition?
The long-term hope is that people are energized by coming here. You always look at it and say, can we do this for the long-term? It’s never one and done, really. So that’s our plan.