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Lance Carpenter, an Ozark, Ark., native and singer/songwriter, is putting together a three day music festival at Byrd’s Adventure Center in lieu of Thunder on the Mountain canceling last week.
Lance Carpenter received an email early Sunday morning, June 14, telling him that Thunder on the Mountain in Ozark, Ark., had been canceled.
The unfortunate news hit hard, and it made him feel horrible. This year would have been his second year to play the festival, and he was honored to be asked to return to play alongside his favorite artists; namely Toby Keith, Luke Bryan and Big and Rich.
“I was doing everything I could to help promote it, and when I got that email Sunday morning they were having to cancel it…I mean it took the breath out of you,” he said.
In this hour of darkness, an idea struck him. He had a band. He had a sound system. He knew the nearby Byrd’s Adventure Center had a stage. In a matter of minutes, the idea for Music and the Mulberry was formed.
“I called Byrd’s, who are five minutes away from the venue Thunder on the Mountain would have been at, and they said they didn’t have anything going on,” said Carpenter, an Ozark, Ark., native. “I told them I’d call a few friends who have bands and at least do a half day or something. It’s now snowballed and I’m trying to organize a three day, 20-plus band music festival in about 12 days when it takes some people six months.”
This is the first festival Carpenter has organized, and he said it’s pretty overwhelming. With $0 for a budget, and relying on ticket sales, donations and sponsors to fund it, Carpenter has been calling in favors. Luckily, he has a lot of helping hands with community members and artists who have reached out to help in anyway they can from providing artist lodging to volunteering. Byrd’s has been instrumental in handling the operations while Carpenter has been handling booking talent.
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Trailer Choir consists of vocalists Marc Fortney and Vinny Hickerson. The band will be playing Music on the Mulberry.
The biggest challenge so far is working with some of the well known acts on a nil budget, Carpenter said. He’s hopeful for continued support from sponsors and donors and ticket sales to have the show go on without a hitch. While there is risk involved with confirming bands before paying them upfront, Carpenter said the bands will be paid.
As of Monday, he said that the festival would have a lot of local and regional bands and some bigger acts that everybody will know. A full lineup announcement is expected this week. At the time of this article publishing, the announcement had not been made. Check out the online version of this article at freeweekly.com to see the full lineup, once announced.
Just like Thunder on the Mountain, the festival will run June 26-28 and start at about 5 p.m. on Friday and run through Sunday evening. The bands will play on two stages, with an acoustic stage and a main stage for full bands.
“Even though it was very unfortunate that Thunder had to cancel, we’re going to be able to put on a three day festival for folks to come enjoy,” Carpenter said. “The response has been amazing. A lot of people took off time and spent thousands of dollars renting hotels, booked flights and rented RVs. I read somewhere one guy had tickets from Norway. I’m excited to bring music fans an option for that weekend.”
Organizers for Thunder on the Mountain said they would soon announce a method to refund tickets to the festival.
There will be a one time fee of $20 per cooler at the gate. Because of the quick timeline a permit was not acquired for an alcohol vendor on site so it is bring your own drinks. There is a general store on site that sells adult beverages as well as a restaurant.
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Andrea Crisalli and lead guitarist Dominique Ruiz make up Dixie Jade. The duo will perform at Music on the Mulberry.
Tickets to Music on the Mulberry are $75 for the entire three day weekend. No single day passes will be sold because of a lack of staff to enforce them. Tickets can be bought online through a link on Lance Carpenter’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/lancecarpentermusic.
“I just want to thank everybody for the support,” Carpenter said. “I’m a nobody. I’m a very small fish in the music business. Thanks to everybody rallying behind the idea, they’re giving me the strength to get me through this. I’m excited. A little blessing from the Lord and I think everything’s just gonna be fine. I have faith.”
