Among many Emporia State University students and casual passersby, the town of Emporia has a reputation for being a sleepy town. However, from 6 p.m. to midnight on Friday, Sept. 6 and noon to midnight on Saturday, Sept. 7, Commercial Street will light up.
The Halfway to Everywhere Music Festival is returning for its fifth year, and the team in charge of the event has taken the time to secure a range of bands. The festival’s main musical draw is expected to be a band called Moon Hooch. Made up of two baritone saxophonists with a single drummer keeping the rhythm, Moon Hooch is a rising star in dance-oriented music.
“It’s kind of an emergent genre that is called brass house,” said Hank Osterhout, the festival’s director. “So I liken it to EDM, except there’s no E, as in, it’s not electronic dance music. It’s brass.”
There are a number of other highlights taking the stage this year. Koo Koo is a dance party duo whose music involves audiences with simplistic choreographed moves. The pair’s initial aspirations to make hip hop music led them to create dances that get people’s feet moving and songs that have largely been embraced by kids. Local bands making their appearances include the heavy rock ‘n roll band Scroat Belly and the acoustic-oriented bluegrass thrashabilly group Split Lip Rayfield.
Another major up-and-comer taking the stage at the festival is The Band Feel.
“This is all original music, but they reminded me of your Led Zeppelins and your Black Sabbaths. I’d say they’re in a similar vein as Greta Van Fleet, but they are a band that I have full faith, within the next five years, are going to be selling out arenas,” Osterhout said.
The festival has designated areas with various local vendors, including the art market at the main entrance on Ninth Avenue. There will also be several artists set up to publicly create their art, including a live pastel drawing competition.
Food trucks will be located at the main stage area on 10th Avenue. The festival has attracted a diverse collection of food vendors including JD’s Pizza, local Latin food joint Taco Zibara, Vietnamese eatery Chi Em Eats, the pies of Shelby’s Snack Shack and many others.
The significant expansion of scale and remarkable community interest in the festival have demanded that Halfway to Everywhere begin charging its participants. Adult tickets are $30 and youth tickets are $10 for children five to 18 years old.
There are also several levels of VIP access that can be purchased for $100 or more, which automatically grant access to the Granada Theater, where all four bands will perform on Friday. On Saturday, the theater will be the VIP hospitality lounge, stocked with a private bar and movie screens to view the bands playing. Depending on tickets, there will also be reserve tables, T-shirts, and swag bags. Due to a new partnership with ESU, ESU students will have free general admission to the festival with their student ID.
Osterhout believes that events like Halfway to Everywhere are crucial to the Emporia community.
“The whole point of this event is really to create engagement with the student population,” Osterhout said. “I mean, it’s for everybody, but we really want to provide this experience to ESU and Flint Hills Tech students so that they appreciate coming to school here and have stuff to do in the community.”