* * Eric Langston and Anita Bevins are about music, community, and heritage
Friday, September 7, 2012 at 02:27PM The inaugural Catawba Farm Fest is coming up this weekend, August 31st - September 2nd at the Virginia Tech Sustainability Center in Catawba, a presentation of Half Acre Promotions. I sat down with partners Eric Langston and Anita Bevins to learn how it all got started.
Eric said, “I went to Virginia Tech from 1984 to 1987. There was a vibrant downtown music scene (in Blacksburg). I moved away, and then moved back in 1996. I was traveling and working a lot in carpentry and architecture. Lots of my friends were still around. It’s a beautiful place and lots of people want to stay. I grew up in a world of music appreciation. I used to play some but neither Anita nor I are musicians.
“A reunion of a friend with his band About Time led to me organizing a small festival in Newport in Giles County, the Newport Fest, in 1999. It was basically a reunion of friends and family. We did a variety of genres, from Old Time to Bluegrass to Country and Western to Rock. We discontinued it as it outgrew the venue.
“The Catawba Farm Fest grew from our experience in Newport and another event, the Giles Fiddlers Convention that we put together.”
Anita grew up in Eastern Kentucky, surrounded by Appalachian music. She then moved here from North Carolina separately and met Eric here and shared a common interest of roots music and small gatherings around featuring live music. They began talking about ideas for various events which led to forming an LLC called Half Acre Promotions.
Eric stressed the community aspect of their work. “We have always recognized that community buy-in is important to the success of our events.”
“We knew we needed recognition for our quality of events as well as community trust,” echoed Anita. “We have always looked to partner with organizations like the Ruritan Club.”
They admitted that there wasn’t much money to be made in event planning, that their efforts were a labor of love. Anita works part-time at Gillie’s Restaurant and is a student at Hollins University. Eric works in construction as his day job. It will take time and more successful events to allow them to expand and turn a personal profit.
“We live a simple lifestyle and live on a tight budget,” Anita confessed. “That carries over to how we budget our festivals.
“The new event, the Farm-fest in Catawba is collaboration with the Virginia Tech’s Sustainability Center. The past director, Christy Gabbard, is our neighbor in Newport. She encouraged us to submit a plan for the event. First, we worked to get the Catawba community on board. Then Tech agreed to partner with us and it brought a new level of credence to our festival.”
“One of the initial inspirations for this,” Eric said, “was to raise money and awareness for the Sustainability Center. This would be part of what I call the ‘flash economy,’ which is that part of tourism when people come and contribute to the economy for a short time, and then depart. Our other events showed our abilities to run an event like this one and we both have previous career experience in project management. We think this event has great potential.”
“The site is wonderful,” beamed Anita. “It is a beautiful, pastoral setting, with long grand ridges. When you arrive to the site, the views are magnificent. We have on-site parking, on-site camping, and plenty of room. We are hosting 48 bands, playing on three stages, with acts including Acoustic Syndicate, The All Mighty Senators, Wayne Henderson, Papadosio, and Larry Keel. The music will be excellent and very diverse. The festival will end on Sunday night, but there is a Tech football game on Monday and we expect lots of people to stay in the area, enhancing tourism.
“Many of these acts have worked with us before with music bookings at Gillie’s or Newport Jamboree events and they were willing to be more flexible with their guarantees this first year—and because they believe in our vision. We don’t have the budget to host a lot of big-time acts, but featuring a mix of familiar regional musicians and popular local bands help through word-of-mouth advertising.”
I asked Eric how many people they expected. He said, “We’re expecting around a 1000, but would be happy if closer to 2000 came. I hope people will leave the event being pleasantly surprised, really impressed, and satisfied with the value they’ve gotten. We’ll have artisans, vendors, terrific food, sustainability workshops, and kids’ events. Almost every rural Appalachian setting is a good one, but this is an ideal setting!
Anita said, “We have learned the value of word-of-mouth advertising. With the connections in the Blacksburg and now new networks in the Roanoke and Salem area, we hope to ensure the viability of our events. Catawba Farm Fest will seem like the convergence of the New River Valley and the Roanoke Valley.”
“Tickets are on average $30 per day—at least seventeen great performances, enjoy primitive camping, hear about sustainability, and have your kids entertained in a beautiful atmosphere. Catawba Fest is going to be a memorable, homegrown event.”
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