For the past eight years, during the last weekend in September, remote venues have been transformed into a lively scene of people and music. The venues become home to Spaghettifest, a three daylong music festival. The festival contains three to five stages and every one who attends camps out during the entirety of the festival.
JMU alumnus, Mickey Glago, is the mastermind behind Spaghettifest. Glago formed a band called Midnight Spaghetti and wanted a way to showcase the band and their music. Glago changed his major to Music Industry and used the festival idea as his senior thesis. Glago takes care of every aspect of the festival and says the process is pretty much a “one man show”. JMU alumna, Megan Gersch, graphic designer/webmaster for Midnight Spaghetti Productions (which presents Spaghettifest), helps him out with marketing and promotion.
“The prep to-do list seems endless,” Gresch said. “Mickey has to book the venue, make sure all camping accommodations and insurance is in place, review the band submissions, book the larger acts, among what seems to be a million other things.”
Gresch makes sure she gets the word out about the festival and tries to do it creatively as well.
“Last year, we had some pretty interesting contests and giveaways through Facebook and Twitter – one girl even won a lifetime Spaghettifest ticket,” Gresch said. “The most important medium is word of mouth, hands down; once you get people talking about the event and excited about the lineup, you’re getting somewhere.”
The proceeds from Spaghettifest go towards a different charity every year. Last year, the earnings went to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and the previous year the proceeds benefitted the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund. But it’s not just about the money and whom the earnings go to.
“You’re raising awareness and putting on a quality event,” Glago said. “Most of the time it does well, it’s not a failing event. It’s high risk though. You’re putting in money, hoping to get money out. But we are raising awareness as well.”
But the music will always remain the sole purpose of the festival.
“The whole point of the event is to showcase the talent that is ever changing,” Glago said. “Some bands stay, some bands go.”
The line-up and headliners change every year. There are usually a couple of big headliners, several regional acts, and then a group of local and younger bands. Last year, locals, Pelicanesis, played at Spaghettifest. The band is made up of Ivan Christo, Patrick Fitzgerald, Casey Flanagan, Josh Ariel, and Chris Hughes.
“It’s an awesome and free feeling festival,” Flanagan said. “There are so many open-minded people there. Pelicanesis has been happy to play there for the past two years. And we will most likely play again this year.”
The guys of Pelicanesis think that the open-mindedness and the diversity of the festival is what makes it fun and interesting. They said they never know what they’re going to find
“The music progresses through multiple genres as the day goes by and eventually leads to an energetic headlining band at the main stage,” Flanagan said. “During the late after hours you can find a dance band or a rave still going on at a side stage. These tend to be the highlight of the festival, at least for Pelicanesis.”
Spaghettifest 9 will be held during the last weekend in September of 2011 and it’s the general consensus from the guys of Pelicanesis to Megan that if you enjoy music and good fun, Spaghettifest is the place to be.
“When you’re stranded in the woods, you only have each other to rely on,” Gersch said. “You have what you brought in your car, you have your friends, and music is playing. Everyone is there to hang out and support a good cause. You have to be there to experience it. It’s just awesome.”
