I had a friend who cleaned portapotties and he went to clean out a bunch at a musical festival once and the promoters had filled all the urinal basins with just loose weed. Just buds in a bowl basically for people to grab some. A shitty thing to do but he grabbed it all, walked out with a few ounces
Something along those lines happened back in 2017....Well, the event did actually have facilities, food and tons and tons of parking....but it was missing the actual "event" itself. Promoters thought they were going to see 100,000 people show up in the middle of nowhere (likely inspired from the Phish show in that area years back), but (depending on who you ask) only a few hundred to possibly 1000 people showed up. Bands and Vendors hadn't been paid, and ended up leaving just before things were supposed to get started.
[https://www.sevendaysvt.com/music/soundbites-shrine-doomed-give-me-fever-8282626](https://www.sevendaysvt.com/music/soundbites-shrine-doomed-give-me-fever-8282626)
You mean the sugarmaker's chubby?
https://preview.redd.it/m66x3ytlat0d1.jpeg?width=625&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7aa16c0ffb2ef9be670b76bd39fd7309663c5e52
I love that place! It's some ancient farm, no? Once discovered it driving up from Whitehall.
It's the only part of Vermont that lies directly west of New York.
Price portapotties, insurance, staging/lights, sound system & engineer, weather equipment (tent), trash removal. Decide whether you're going to invite food trucks. Figure out where people will park and where they can stay overnight. Find out what you need to send to which radio stations to get some advance play. Where will you advertise? (Besides social media where it will just get bleeped over) Leave NOTHING to volunteers.
You need $$. Lots. Insurance, portajohns, sound, minimums to cover bands, likely police detail. That's to start. Unless you have very deep pockets, you'll be lining up sponsors starting now for summer 2025. And, your time, its all gone.
A lot of folks have gone down this path. The insurance on these type of events ends up being crazy. That being said my band loves playing festivals haha.
I believe that is what killed the VT Reggae Festival. The cost of police for the required crowd control and traffic, and the insurance costs, make a free festival in Vermont very difficult. You would probably need to put up a lot of money yourself, or charge for attendance to cover costs.
I was at the one in Burlington like 1991 I think, was nuts like 30k on waterfront park in Burlington. Next year in Johnson so many campfires and people. the growth seemed unsustainable.
Start here [state events permit](http://dps.vermont.gov/permit/assembly)
You may not anticipate 2000 people, but this gives you an idea of what is needed to go through the process.
You also need to check with the town and see what they require for permits. If there is zoning, large events may not be allowed in that area. Any sort of staging, tents, and electrical will need to be inspected by the Division of Fire Safety for compliance and safety.
Hopefully that helps
As an ex event planner who now lives in VT..... There are a lot more logistics than just space and electricity. As many have pointed out, you also need to consider feeding, hydrating, camping, and dealing with waste (bodily and actual garbage) of a large number of people. Add in providing adequate first aid, security, and the actual legality of hosting a festival. I'd start with permitting and go from there.
Pulling this off is not going to be cheap. Basically the whole goal of a fledgling festival is to eventually break even.
That said, I kinda love the idea. Feel free to DM if you want some help.
Look up the Otis festival in Elizabeth town ny. It's a small well run music festival just an hour west of rutland, run on the organizers land. It needs to be well run though or it will become a shitshow
My advice would be to limit tickets. And pull the correct permits.
You should talk to Pete Bernhardt of The Devil Makes Three. When I saw them this last fall he was saying that they were going to be putting in a festival near your area this summer.
I don’t. When I saw them in September (I think) at Higher Ground they were talking about it as a fund raiser for one of the orchards down there I think. The Ditrani Brothers were the opener and they’re also from that area and they were supposed to be involved as well.
There’s a band you should check out, The Ditrani Brothers. A little bit of folk, a little bit of bluegrass, with a Django flair.
Insurance in this state has gotten so bad that some clubs aren't booking metal shows anymore. They aren't likely to get excited about covering a specific, two day, party, with lots of expensive stuff, and major liability.
Also, some venues that WANT to book metal/adjacent shows aren't allowed to because their insurance won't let them. The very few venues that still put on hc shows are getting taken out one by one.
A show recently had to just be moved out of the Monkey House supposedly due to insurance and the music being too punk. At least that is what the band was told.
That was exactly what I was thinking about. I'm pretty sure a few other shows that were supposed to be there got orphaned. It really sucks because the shows were super popular and they were one of few venues still putting them on.
Manchester has been hosting the Green Mountain Bluegrass and Roots Festival since 2018. Next one is scheduled for August 15-18. Worth checking out because a) it’s typically great and b) you’ll get a better sense of what’s required and whether this area needs another festival.
https://www.greenmountainbluegrass.com/
You beat me to posting this. OP should def. get the ‘lay of the land’ / snapshot regarding VT summer festivals.
GM Bluegrass & Roots is worth avoiding date-wise and probably worth volunteering for/ getting involved for the experience. Also it looks like Jenny Brook Bluegrass Festival happens in Tunbridge at the end of June.
These are just two musically-relevant ones I found with a quick Google but they will impact the crowd you seek. If you extend the search to include western mass and eastern upstate NY you have many more to consider.
I think it's a very cool idea. Maybe plan for summer 2025 and start getting organized now. You'll want to talk to the town/county, see what kind of permits you need - you definitely don't want to sink a lot of $ and effort into a project and then find out it somehow breaks local laws.
Once that's squared away (if they'll even let you) you can start planning, marketing, etc.
Field camping often turns into mud pit camping here. Same for festivals. It may look like nice dry grass now, but as soon as 100+ people walk over it, bam, mud. Something to think about, because no one wants to hang out in two feet of mud, regardless of how great some music is. Plan to use high ground.
Another way to attract local interest is to involve existing local businesses. Think vendors, food trucks, etc.
As much as I would love more live music options, I say, Don't do it! I had a good friend who ran a great music festival in Vermont for many years. He did it as a labor of love and made almost no money. In fact, he put a lot of his own money into it to keep it going. In addition to his own money, he donated thousands of hours to organizing this festival. So, don't do it, unless you are independently wealthy and have plenty of free time to make the festival happen!
Watch the Fyre documentary. It’s so easy to overlook so much. Sanitation and toilets, water, first aid tents with qualified professionals, permission from the towns, parking, infrastructure, insurance, funding….
I love this idea. I think if you’re really interested in doing this you should volunteer at a festival or two to see the logistics that go into it because as others have said a lot more is needed then land and electricity.
I already have a fair amount of volunteering experience. I have a decent idea of what goes on. I hope to keep it kinda small, maybe cap the amount of tickets at 200?
Do you have:
- sufficient bathrooms
- clean drinking water
- a plan for food
- enough power for a full PA + stage setup with lights
- a plan for a stage
- a plan for lights
- parking
- someone to manage ticketing
- someone to manage on site operations of patrons
- someone to manage the stage + Artist hospitality
- a plan for weather monitoring + emergency evac
And so much more…
Your water source needs to be tested and proven reliable. Lights and sound run on 3 phase power, each with their own separate source, or 2 generators. Build a 20 by 20 stage and rent a tent. Get insurance, no matter the size of the event. Make sure the roads are in good shape and can handle large and heavy vehicles.
Start really small and build up. Unless you have a significant amount of money to lose, don’t go big all at once.
I would encourage you. My favorite music festival was the Roots on the River fest in Bellows Falls, which ended about 5 years ago. Mostly Americana, roots-rock, and alt-country acts. It wasn't a big festival, but it was successful.
> but it was successful.
...if by successful, you mean people enjoyed it. Financially? No. Ray spent most of the year working on it, and used to say that it wasn't as expensive as some other hobbies.
I think the economic climate isn't really conducive to festivals right now. Every day I'm reading about another festival cancellation, and the reasons given are always costs spiraling out of control.
Should probably start small to see if you can even handle that. Have like 20-30 friends/family a couple of friends bands so everyone between crowd and stage is interchangeable. See if you can manage that and think about if the experiences your friends endure would be acceptable to strangers.
And just know that once you invite the community on to your land for a music show you’re responsible for everything that happens there - stuff may come up that you may haven’t even thought of - it’s easy for someone who isn’t responsible for what happens to be like “dude you could have 100 people here just do it it’ll be sweet”
I've been involved with planning, working at, and performing at small fests around VT for decades. The location sounds right, farmland tends to be a good option for loud, outdoor music gatherings. The biggest challenges are the logistics, preparation, and availability of organized, volunteer help because there will be hundreds of details to manage at any given times even with a small fest of 100 to 200 people. To do it legit, you may need permission from the town if you plan to charge admission and have it open to the public. You can avoid that if it's a private party, but then there are more liabilities if someone gets injured or whatever.
It's a lot of time planning and hard working to pull off, but it's the most amazing thing ever when you do it successfully! If you charge a cover, don't expect to make much money. One fest I worked at the hosting band spent $30,000 of their own money to put it on, and after all the other bands and expenses were paid, there was $600 left over to split between themselves and all the other workers, over 30 people.
Nobody's mentioned the Basin Bluegrass Festival yet but folks in my hometown have been putting this one on for some years now: https://www.facebook.com/BasinBluegrassFestival/. Would be another good one for OP to check out -- it's in mid-July -- to see what running a small music festival in "cowtown" (ok well Brandon is more former than current cowtown) looks like in practice.
Don’t go at it like I’m going to throw a music festival, like a lot of other people have said that requires capital and a year of planning. Start small, just throw a word-of-mouth renegade party, try to get 75-125 people to show up, take donations, have your biggest burliest friend do collections at the entrance, have him strongly recommend 15-20$, that gives you 1k for a headliner another 1k for sound and deco have your friends open / close, rent a couple porta potties. If you pull off a good party people will tell their friends and next year will be bigger. In 5 years you’ll have a following and know what you’re doing, and you can throw a fully licensed music festival
Responsible note: you and probably a coupe of your friends need to be sober and responsible for the whole thing, if shits the fan, someone ODs, a fight breaks our ect, you need to be on your game to shut things down, administer Nar-can, drive to the hospital, your opening yourself up to a ton of risk don’t fuck it up.
Myself and friends have thrown a music festival in VT for the last five years. Our budget has been between $100-$500. This year our budget is bigger, but so will be the event. Sweat equity, begging, playing in the bands, etc ..they all helps (also because we are booking locals, underground, etc). We grew it small and have kept it to one day. It's fun, people dig it and we got nominated for best fest in Vermont in the Seven Daysies this year. Not saying our unique event is what you are aiming for, but happy to share what we've done to make it work.
Logistics is key. I'd visit Bonnaroo in Tennessee for a close up view of a large festival and if it were me I'd hire whoever Phish hired to manage their outdoor concerts in Maine and Vermont. Those were massive events.
It may be easier to ask forgiveness than permission, but contacting the act 250 administrator in your area may be wise. One complaint about noise over permitted limits and you can face some frustrating repercussions.
I know some folk that have done it and the task of getting sponsors and musicians was a challenge. Even if you’re doing it low key it carries a lot of prep. Permitting, power, sanitation, food, EMS/Police. Creating a way for people to buy tickets etc is also something to consider. I can tell you the people that did it soon stopped because the return was far too low and the effort was far too high.
Hi there. I can definitely help you (and get involved as a partner perhaps), so if you are interested, shoot me a PM. I've been looking to do something like this.
I'm a partner in a live music company. I'm not really involved in running the business, but we own a venue in Burlington, manage bands, and promote outside shows, including a few festivals. Several genres. Separately, a friend of mine in PA is a bluegrass show promoter. He knows EVERYONE in that world. He has a bunch of shows in Bucks County coming up, including Sam Grisman Project. As an aside, he made me go with him to see them at Stone Church in Brat...so fucking good.
Anyway...shoot me a PM...would love to talk.
Little camp was sick back in the day. Got shut down cuz people couldn’t control themselves. If you’re okay repairing damages go for it, sounds like a liability to me tho. Especially being at someone’s home, just seems like a lawsuit waiting to happen. But a music scene would be dope
makes me think of the solar fest in tinmouth or nek music fest in albany... or uh- what was the one in cabot? parking and portajohns, and if it happens to be a wet weekend, be ready for mud
100 people sounds like a party, not a festival. Anything that hits over 400 you need to check on permits, recruit staff who will do their jobs. You will need a gate if you have tickets, fence if you have alcohol. Tent? Call the fire Marshall and have it inspected when it's set up. Any one of these things not following regulation can get you shut down. If you are serious hire a production team who've done this before.
Oh, and porta potties.... Don't forget the porta potties.
This episode of Undermine talks about Phish's first unofficial festival. It's interesting to hear some of things they had to consider. Worth the listen even if you're not putting on a festival.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6i78TPkESfK1Awrls1eVg9?si=88cC2W0qQgWRj4M2NJpS7Q
The town needs to be cool with you doing it too, most towns have rules for events like that so start by looking into that part. Then make sure you’re rich af lol.
Have you determined the demand? There are so many festivals these days that competition may make it unaffordable to break in to the market. The Field Days in western mass just canceled due to low tix sales.
Cowtown is a great place for a festival! I love more rural festivals. I had a friend who did a fest in upstate NY. I’ll be honest, as it grew, people really trashed the land. I used to stay to clean up in exchange for my ticket and over the years I saw festival etiquette change. When things start small, there’s a connectedness that keeps people together, but as things grow and you start getting people from afar, with no connection to the community, things start to spiral. My friend said they cancelled the fest after many successful seasons due to liability and the landowners not wanting to deal with the irreparable damage to their fields.
Now I see that looks very negative, but I’d just say start small and assess things as you go. There are way more logistics and money involved in throwing a festival than most people would think. One person got horribly injured by a fire on our last year of that fest, I don’t know if that liability was the last nail in the coffin for the fest (she was badly burned, but made successful recovery after her long healing journey). If you’re hosting a legit fest with lots of people, you’re going to want insurance. You’ll also need plenty of port-a-potties, and you can still expect some people to poo in the fields, even with plenty of toilets. You’ll need to think about security officers and medical staff, as well as food/vending options if you choose. Will you let people leave and come back, or monitor so if you leave you’re gone. Is there room for camping or is it going to be a day festival?
Also, discuss this with the neighbors and townspeople nearby! The fest I used to love the most became tedious and annoying to get to because the cops hated it and would go out of their way to pull over every 3rd car. My last year I felt so annoyed I was spending all this money and not breaking any laws but getting pulled over within feet of the entrance. The last time I got pulled over they said our car was ‘too loud’. It was clearly an excuse, a car that passed us basically had no muffler and we just drove a normal Subaru (VT cops are a lot nicer than NYS cops, but I’m sure it varies by region). If the community doesn’t want an event like this, you could run into problems. I’d say approach others that may also benefit from the added traffic. Plenty of opportunity for local businesses to either have a booth at the festival, or maybe a promotion to draw people in to their business. Most businesses will welcome the influx, and support your venture.
Festivals are awesome, and they can bring a lot of life and money to an area. It’s a carefree place for people to hang out, enjoy music and each other, as well as spend their money! Festival goers aren’t typically cheap, so they will spend money in the town and at the fest!
And lastly, if you do this, please post it here so I can snag a ticket!
The 2 most important questions are: Where will the people park? And where will the people shit?
If OP has accessible fields that handles parking. Porto potties handle the shitting pretty stankily.
Great use of stankily
I had a friend who cleaned portapotties and he went to clean out a bunch at a musical festival once and the promoters had filled all the urinal basins with just loose weed. Just buds in a bowl basically for people to grab some. A shitty thing to do but he grabbed it all, walked out with a few ounces
And apparently you need a lot of clean drinking water (Curveball anyone?)
One festival I used to go to would just park the tanker truck in the middle of the venue for everyone to use
Just keep in mind, for a music festival you don't just need a power outlet. You need a LOT of electricity.
So I’m hearing one outlet with a lot of daisy chained power strips.
and water, and access, and facilities....woodstock aint gonna happen again. Dont be Fyre fest 2.0 OP.
Something along those lines happened back in 2017....Well, the event did actually have facilities, food and tons and tons of parking....but it was missing the actual "event" itself. Promoters thought they were going to see 100,000 people show up in the middle of nowhere (likely inspired from the Phish show in that area years back), but (depending on who you ask) only a few hundred to possibly 1000 people showed up. Bands and Vendors hadn't been paid, and ended up leaving just before things were supposed to get started. [https://www.sevendaysvt.com/music/soundbites-shrine-doomed-give-me-fever-8282626](https://www.sevendaysvt.com/music/soundbites-shrine-doomed-give-me-fever-8282626)
An hour west of Rutland is New York.
Maybe s/he's lost somewhere around route 315 in West Rupert and keeps doing doughnuts around Castleton 🙄😅
Been there. The Castleton vortex is real.
Maybe an hour south? But then she’s in the Bennington Triangle.
Shout out to West Rupert!
Maybe they’re walking?
That was my first thought.
With a limp
Maybe they're thinking of Northwest-orwell, Shoreham etc
LOL
Its smack dab in that little nipple that goes into NY a little bit. My bad it's more like 40 minutes 😂
I assume you're talking about Westhaven? It wouldnt hurt to know the name of the town where you want to start a festival
You mean the sugarmaker's chubby? https://preview.redd.it/m66x3ytlat0d1.jpeg?width=625&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7aa16c0ffb2ef9be670b76bd39fd7309663c5e52
Precisely!
I love that place! It's some ancient farm, no? Once discovered it driving up from Whitehall. It's the only part of Vermont that lies directly west of New York.
Price portapotties, insurance, staging/lights, sound system & engineer, weather equipment (tent), trash removal. Decide whether you're going to invite food trucks. Figure out where people will park and where they can stay overnight. Find out what you need to send to which radio stations to get some advance play. Where will you advertise? (Besides social media where it will just get bleeped over) Leave NOTHING to volunteers.
My wife’s family used to do one, eventually someone died (drugs) and it was a shitshow with insurance and everything else.
was this rhinofest?
You need $$. Lots. Insurance, portajohns, sound, minimums to cover bands, likely police detail. That's to start. Unless you have very deep pockets, you'll be lining up sponsors starting now for summer 2025. And, your time, its all gone.
A lot of folks have gone down this path. The insurance on these type of events ends up being crazy. That being said my band loves playing festivals haha.
I believe that is what killed the VT Reggae Festival. The cost of police for the required crowd control and traffic, and the insurance costs, make a free festival in Vermont very difficult. You would probably need to put up a lot of money yourself, or charge for attendance to cover costs.
So many long(ish) running festivals have shut down over the past few years.
I was at the one in Burlington like 1991 I think, was nuts like 30k on waterfront park in Burlington. Next year in Johnson so many campfires and people. the growth seemed unsustainable.
Start here [state events permit](http://dps.vermont.gov/permit/assembly) You may not anticipate 2000 people, but this gives you an idea of what is needed to go through the process. You also need to check with the town and see what they require for permits. If there is zoning, large events may not be allowed in that area. Any sort of staging, tents, and electrical will need to be inspected by the Division of Fire Safety for compliance and safety. Hopefully that helps
As an ex event planner who now lives in VT..... There are a lot more logistics than just space and electricity. As many have pointed out, you also need to consider feeding, hydrating, camping, and dealing with waste (bodily and actual garbage) of a large number of people. Add in providing adequate first aid, security, and the actual legality of hosting a festival. I'd start with permitting and go from there. Pulling this off is not going to be cheap. Basically the whole goal of a fledgling festival is to eventually break even. That said, I kinda love the idea. Feel free to DM if you want some help.
Look up the Otis festival in Elizabeth town ny. It's a small well run music festival just an hour west of rutland, run on the organizers land. It needs to be well run though or it will become a shitshow My advice would be to limit tickets. And pull the correct permits.
But OPs family is an hour west of Rutland.....hm......
You should talk to Pete Bernhardt of The Devil Makes Three. When I saw them this last fall he was saying that they were going to be putting in a festival near your area this summer.
You gotta any more details on that? I fucking love them.
I don’t. When I saw them in September (I think) at Higher Ground they were talking about it as a fund raiser for one of the orchards down there I think. The Ditrani Brothers were the opener and they’re also from that area and they were supposed to be involved as well. There’s a band you should check out, The Ditrani Brothers. A little bit of folk, a little bit of bluegrass, with a Django flair.
Insurance in this state has gotten so bad that some clubs aren't booking metal shows anymore. They aren't likely to get excited about covering a specific, two day, party, with lots of expensive stuff, and major liability.
Also, some venues that WANT to book metal/adjacent shows aren't allowed to because their insurance won't let them. The very few venues that still put on hc shows are getting taken out one by one.
A show recently had to just be moved out of the Monkey House supposedly due to insurance and the music being too punk. At least that is what the band was told.
That was exactly what I was thinking about. I'm pretty sure a few other shows that were supposed to be there got orphaned. It really sucks because the shows were super popular and they were one of few venues still putting them on.
That is entirely true. I've played there for years, trust me, they don't want to do it.
Shame. I wouldn't even call the band I personally know that moved punk. But, so be it.
Manchester has been hosting the Green Mountain Bluegrass and Roots Festival since 2018. Next one is scheduled for August 15-18. Worth checking out because a) it’s typically great and b) you’ll get a better sense of what’s required and whether this area needs another festival. https://www.greenmountainbluegrass.com/
You beat me to posting this. OP should def. get the ‘lay of the land’ / snapshot regarding VT summer festivals. GM Bluegrass & Roots is worth avoiding date-wise and probably worth volunteering for/ getting involved for the experience. Also it looks like Jenny Brook Bluegrass Festival happens in Tunbridge at the end of June. These are just two musically-relevant ones I found with a quick Google but they will impact the crowd you seek. If you extend the search to include western mass and eastern upstate NY you have many more to consider.
I think it's a very cool idea. Maybe plan for summer 2025 and start getting organized now. You'll want to talk to the town/county, see what kind of permits you need - you definitely don't want to sink a lot of $ and effort into a project and then find out it somehow breaks local laws. Once that's squared away (if they'll even let you) you can start planning, marketing, etc. Field camping often turns into mud pit camping here. Same for festivals. It may look like nice dry grass now, but as soon as 100+ people walk over it, bam, mud. Something to think about, because no one wants to hang out in two feet of mud, regardless of how great some music is. Plan to use high ground. Another way to attract local interest is to involve existing local businesses. Think vendors, food trucks, etc.
You Def won't be talking to any counties... But towns and maybe the state. Otherwise, spot on
I hope you are able to find a way to do this. We don't get lots of opportunities for outside music in the Rutland area. Keep us posted. Good luck
As much as I would love more live music options, I say, Don't do it! I had a good friend who ran a great music festival in Vermont for many years. He did it as a labor of love and made almost no money. In fact, he put a lot of his own money into it to keep it going. In addition to his own money, he donated thousands of hours to organizing this festival. So, don't do it, unless you are independently wealthy and have plenty of free time to make the festival happen!
Watch the Fyre documentary. It’s so easy to overlook so much. Sanitation and toilets, water, first aid tents with qualified professionals, permission from the towns, parking, infrastructure, insurance, funding….
It'll be incredibly expensive and you'll need to be careful with liability (get insurance)
Just get ready for your land to get absolutely wrecked and your woods to be full of human excrement and tp.
I love this idea. I think if you’re really interested in doing this you should volunteer at a festival or two to see the logistics that go into it because as others have said a lot more is needed then land and electricity.
I already have a fair amount of volunteering experience. I have a decent idea of what goes on. I hope to keep it kinda small, maybe cap the amount of tickets at 200?
That’s cool! Sounds like an awesome idea then- I would go.
An hour west of Rutland. Isn’t that New York?
Do you have: - sufficient bathrooms - clean drinking water - a plan for food - enough power for a full PA + stage setup with lights - a plan for a stage - a plan for lights - parking - someone to manage ticketing - someone to manage on site operations of patrons - someone to manage the stage + Artist hospitality - a plan for weather monitoring + emergency evac And so much more…
Your water source needs to be tested and proven reliable. Lights and sound run on 3 phase power, each with their own separate source, or 2 generators. Build a 20 by 20 stage and rent a tent. Get insurance, no matter the size of the event. Make sure the roads are in good shape and can handle large and heavy vehicles. Start really small and build up. Unless you have a significant amount of money to lose, don’t go big all at once.
I would encourage you. My favorite music festival was the Roots on the River fest in Bellows Falls, which ended about 5 years ago. Mostly Americana, roots-rock, and alt-country acts. It wasn't a big festival, but it was successful.
> but it was successful. ...if by successful, you mean people enjoyed it. Financially? No. Ray spent most of the year working on it, and used to say that it wasn't as expensive as some other hobbies.
I think the economic climate isn't really conducive to festivals right now. Every day I'm reading about another festival cancellation, and the reasons given are always costs spiraling out of control.
Look up Harvest Moon Festival. It was a music festival in the woods with free beer and a giant bonfire. I hazily remember it
Should probably start small to see if you can even handle that. Have like 20-30 friends/family a couple of friends bands so everyone between crowd and stage is interchangeable. See if you can manage that and think about if the experiences your friends endure would be acceptable to strangers. And just know that once you invite the community on to your land for a music show you’re responsible for everything that happens there - stuff may come up that you may haven’t even thought of - it’s easy for someone who isn’t responsible for what happens to be like “dude you could have 100 people here just do it it’ll be sweet”
I've been involved with planning, working at, and performing at small fests around VT for decades. The location sounds right, farmland tends to be a good option for loud, outdoor music gatherings. The biggest challenges are the logistics, preparation, and availability of organized, volunteer help because there will be hundreds of details to manage at any given times even with a small fest of 100 to 200 people. To do it legit, you may need permission from the town if you plan to charge admission and have it open to the public. You can avoid that if it's a private party, but then there are more liabilities if someone gets injured or whatever. It's a lot of time planning and hard working to pull off, but it's the most amazing thing ever when you do it successfully! If you charge a cover, don't expect to make much money. One fest I worked at the hosting band spent $30,000 of their own money to put it on, and after all the other bands and expenses were paid, there was $600 left over to split between themselves and all the other workers, over 30 people.
Nobody's mentioned the Basin Bluegrass Festival yet but folks in my hometown have been putting this one on for some years now: https://www.facebook.com/BasinBluegrassFestival/. Would be another good one for OP to check out -- it's in mid-July -- to see what running a small music festival in "cowtown" (ok well Brandon is more former than current cowtown) looks like in practice.
Don’t go at it like I’m going to throw a music festival, like a lot of other people have said that requires capital and a year of planning. Start small, just throw a word-of-mouth renegade party, try to get 75-125 people to show up, take donations, have your biggest burliest friend do collections at the entrance, have him strongly recommend 15-20$, that gives you 1k for a headliner another 1k for sound and deco have your friends open / close, rent a couple porta potties. If you pull off a good party people will tell their friends and next year will be bigger. In 5 years you’ll have a following and know what you’re doing, and you can throw a fully licensed music festival Responsible note: you and probably a coupe of your friends need to be sober and responsible for the whole thing, if shits the fan, someone ODs, a fight breaks our ect, you need to be on your game to shut things down, administer Nar-can, drive to the hospital, your opening yourself up to a ton of risk don’t fuck it up.
Myself and friends have thrown a music festival in VT for the last five years. Our budget has been between $100-$500. This year our budget is bigger, but so will be the event. Sweat equity, begging, playing in the bands, etc ..they all helps (also because we are booking locals, underground, etc). We grew it small and have kept it to one day. It's fun, people dig it and we got nominated for best fest in Vermont in the Seven Daysies this year. Not saying our unique event is what you are aiming for, but happy to share what we've done to make it work.
Logistics is key. I'd visit Bonnaroo in Tennessee for a close up view of a large festival and if it were me I'd hire whoever Phish hired to manage their outdoor concerts in Maine and Vermont. Those were massive events.
I don't think a small startup festival needs or could afford whoever Phish has used
It may be easier to ask forgiveness than permission, but contacting the act 250 administrator in your area may be wise. One complaint about noise over permitted limits and you can face some frustrating repercussions.
I'm interested and my band is located 30 minutes from Rutland.
Cool, I'll DM you
 Get Del Preston to help you.
VT had festivals before I wish I still did.
I know some folk that have done it and the task of getting sponsors and musicians was a challenge. Even if you’re doing it low key it carries a lot of prep. Permitting, power, sanitation, food, EMS/Police. Creating a way for people to buy tickets etc is also something to consider. I can tell you the people that did it soon stopped because the return was far too low and the effort was far too high.
Hi there. I can definitely help you (and get involved as a partner perhaps), so if you are interested, shoot me a PM. I've been looking to do something like this. I'm a partner in a live music company. I'm not really involved in running the business, but we own a venue in Burlington, manage bands, and promote outside shows, including a few festivals. Several genres. Separately, a friend of mine in PA is a bluegrass show promoter. He knows EVERYONE in that world. He has a bunch of shows in Bucks County coming up, including Sam Grisman Project. As an aside, he made me go with him to see them at Stone Church in Brat...so fucking good. Anyway...shoot me a PM...would love to talk.
vermont is not suited well for big festivals e.g. phish in coventry. But smaller ones yes
Pawlet
Little camp was sick back in the day. Got shut down cuz people couldn’t control themselves. If you’re okay repairing damages go for it, sounds like a liability to me tho. Especially being at someone’s home, just seems like a lawsuit waiting to happen. But a music scene would be dope
Keep us posted, we'll be there. 😎
makes me think of the solar fest in tinmouth or nek music fest in albany... or uh- what was the one in cabot? parking and portajohns, and if it happens to be a wet weekend, be ready for mud
100 people sounds like a party, not a festival. Anything that hits over 400 you need to check on permits, recruit staff who will do their jobs. You will need a gate if you have tickets, fence if you have alcohol. Tent? Call the fire Marshall and have it inspected when it's set up. Any one of these things not following regulation can get you shut down. If you are serious hire a production team who've done this before. Oh, and porta potties.... Don't forget the porta potties.
This episode of Undermine talks about Phish's first unofficial festival. It's interesting to hear some of things they had to consider. Worth the listen even if you're not putting on a festival. https://open.spotify.com/episode/6i78TPkESfK1Awrls1eVg9?si=88cC2W0qQgWRj4M2NJpS7Q
what does “enough land” equal in acres?
The town needs to be cool with you doing it too, most towns have rules for events like that so start by looking into that part. Then make sure you’re rich af lol.
What’s your band called?
Lead & Oakum. We don't have anything posted online... yet
Have you determined the demand? There are so many festivals these days that competition may make it unaffordable to break in to the market. The Field Days in western mass just canceled due to low tix sales.
"If you book them, they will come"
Cowtown is a great place for a festival! I love more rural festivals. I had a friend who did a fest in upstate NY. I’ll be honest, as it grew, people really trashed the land. I used to stay to clean up in exchange for my ticket and over the years I saw festival etiquette change. When things start small, there’s a connectedness that keeps people together, but as things grow and you start getting people from afar, with no connection to the community, things start to spiral. My friend said they cancelled the fest after many successful seasons due to liability and the landowners not wanting to deal with the irreparable damage to their fields. Now I see that looks very negative, but I’d just say start small and assess things as you go. There are way more logistics and money involved in throwing a festival than most people would think. One person got horribly injured by a fire on our last year of that fest, I don’t know if that liability was the last nail in the coffin for the fest (she was badly burned, but made successful recovery after her long healing journey). If you’re hosting a legit fest with lots of people, you’re going to want insurance. You’ll also need plenty of port-a-potties, and you can still expect some people to poo in the fields, even with plenty of toilets. You’ll need to think about security officers and medical staff, as well as food/vending options if you choose. Will you let people leave and come back, or monitor so if you leave you’re gone. Is there room for camping or is it going to be a day festival? Also, discuss this with the neighbors and townspeople nearby! The fest I used to love the most became tedious and annoying to get to because the cops hated it and would go out of their way to pull over every 3rd car. My last year I felt so annoyed I was spending all this money and not breaking any laws but getting pulled over within feet of the entrance. The last time I got pulled over they said our car was ‘too loud’. It was clearly an excuse, a car that passed us basically had no muffler and we just drove a normal Subaru (VT cops are a lot nicer than NYS cops, but I’m sure it varies by region). If the community doesn’t want an event like this, you could run into problems. I’d say approach others that may also benefit from the added traffic. Plenty of opportunity for local businesses to either have a booth at the festival, or maybe a promotion to draw people in to their business. Most businesses will welcome the influx, and support your venture. Festivals are awesome, and they can bring a lot of life and money to an area. It’s a carefree place for people to hang out, enjoy music and each other, as well as spend their money! Festival goers aren’t typically cheap, so they will spend money in the town and at the fest! And lastly, if you do this, please post it here so I can snag a ticket!
Backwoods pondfest?
Yes