We're super low budget. I mean, we have $3,000 in the bank. We're booking artists that are much more than that. You want big and rich, you've got small and poor. Yeah, that's exactly right. Your baby is like coming to life.
Made something out of nothing. This did not exist 5 years ago, which [music] is crazy. They love it. Like, for the most part, once they get here and see it, it feels like a big music festival, but it's a 4,000 [music] cap and it's very intimate and people love that. You don't even know if people are going to show up through the door. How are you [music] going in there and getting sponsorship for a festival that didn't exist?
From South Bend to Evansville and everywhere in between, this is Get In, the show focused on the Hooser State and the incredible stories [music] happening here today. I'm Nate Spangle, founder of Get Indiana, and I will be your host for today's conversation. Before we get into today's show, if you're looking for [music] an excuse to get out and explore Indiana this fall, take a day trip down to Jackson County. You can spend the [music] morning out on the trails, taking in the fall colors, explore some of the area's history, find a good local spot for lunch, [music] and make an entire day out of just seeing what's around the next corner. And that's what really makes Jackson County a great day trip. [music] You don't need some huge itinerary.
There's plenty of good food, outdoor spots, small town history, and places to explore at your own pace. So, pick a Saturday, get in the car, and just go see a part of Indiana you might not know yet. Start planning your trip at Jackson County. com. Now, let's get into the show. Connor [music] Barnett is the creator and driving force behind Rock the Rine, the country music festival that has made the [music] Jackson County Watermelon Festival a national destination.
By its third year, they've sold tickets in 38 different states. I'm so excited to sit down and learn how they have built the biggest country music festival in the smallest town. So, I want to start. Where did the idea for Rock the Rine come from? Yeah. So, we had the Jackson County Watermelon Festival started in 1968 and it was wildly successful for a really long time, but you know, I think it just as time progressed, it got tired.
Um, you know, volunteers are hard to come by and I think it was just a lack of organization and it actually um it was shut down in 2016. So they just were having a hard time putting a committee together. Decided not to have it this that year and that led us to around COVID. Um it's put this is put on by Brown Union Main Street Local 501c3. We do beautifification projects around town and revitalization. Um but we didn't have any money.
It was a membership based organization and we were operating on about $3,000 annually. So Oh god. You can't do a whole lot of revitalization with a thousand or $3,000. So, one thing we were looking for was, you know, revenue generation. How are we going to grow this thing? And then number two, we need a festival.
We're in the county seat. Jackson County has great festivals. Octoberfest, Kthersville, Red, White, and Blue, Fort Balonia. Why don't we have one right here on the square? Yeah, because that is the interesting piece. Uh, we talked about it in the first half a little bit, but 3,000 people.
You are the county seat. We are. So, like the courouses have I mean, right in my back window here. And so, for Yeah. the Seymour or Ktherser like all these other places to have one for for the county seat not to that's kind of okay you got to look in the mirror a little bit and say what are we doing here? Yeah, that's exactly right.
So our Brownstone Main Street board were thinking we've got to bring one back. Do we try to jump start the the watermelon festival back up or do we go a completely different direction because once something fails it's hard to get people excited about it again. So, a lot of discussion. We had been hosting a summer concert series here at the stage that we use for the late night set now. And uh we were thinking, you know, we like doing that. That was slowly growing.
Nothing even remotely close to what we're doing now. Um and then we did want to keep the heritage of like the watermelon festival and try to keep that intertwined. So, after a lot of discussion, Rock the Rine was born and here we are four years later. It's pretty wild to see. Okay. So, you were at like these Main Street meetings and you're like, "Okay, maybe we should do a music festival."
Mhm. So, like do do you remember kind of deciding, okay, we're going to we're going to do we're going to do a music festival. We're going to call it Rock the R. Like I don't know where that came into it, but like what was the first thing you had to do? Cuz I do want to pre like this is not your local cover bands. It's not like regional acts like you have big headliners that have come through and played on the stage.
Like last year Steven Wilson Jr. Granted, he is a hometown guy, but you've had really well-known, award-winning musical acts that like sell out big concerts and go on tours. Yeah. Um, so yeah, I mean, where did we start? That feels like it was 15 years ago. But just a ton of research, right?
Like, where do we get the stage? How do we book these artists? Cuz you can Google how do I book Big and Rich and you're not getting the correct answer. Like they keep that pretty tight because they don't want everyone calling non-stop. Yeah. Like for my birthday or for my this or my that.
like you're just wait you end up wasting a lot of time because you want real interested buyers. That's exactly right. So I I'm very passionate about music. I my wife and I Caitlyn, we go to a ton of music festivals and a ton of shows, but that's about where my knowledge leading into this ended. It's really fun from the the crowd side, right? I love music from the crowd side.
It's great. But what's that look like on the back end? So I was very very fortunate. One of our summer concert series, we booked Alex Williams and it was one of our bigger shows. cuz we had around 250 people there. But my buddy Drew Eids was managing Alex at the time.
So he was here. That's when we first met. That would have been like 2021 maybe. Um so he was my first call cuz he was putting on a music festival in Madison. And I said, "Hey, I'm thinking about doing this. I need help.
I'd love to bring you on board. What's that look like for you?" We sat down. We were super low budget. I mean, we had $3,000 in the banks, right? So we're booking artists that are much more than that.
So you want big and rich, you've got small and poor. Yeah, that's exactly right. So um you know, we were very fortunate. This community is unbelievable and that's how we put this on is the sponsorship and the support. Okay. So is that where you start?
you you you call someone who has experience doing a festival and then you realize well you know I don't know headline act 75 150,000 like I don't know what the the number ports and like that first year you know we missed a lot but yeah you put together a base a base list of kind of what the cost is going to be and then started making calls to some of my buddies and um businesses around town and said hey we're thinking about doing this can would you support it financially because that's what it's going to take and we were very fortunate to get some some partners on board really early that and what are you selling them like I think a lot of things is like activation right you think about signage you don't even know if people are going to show up through the door how were you going in there and getting sponsorship for a festival that didn't exist we had a vision I mean so it looks so much different Nathan what it does today I mean we were thinking about like putting the stage right in front of the courthouse and kind of covering that lawn I mean we were thinking thousand people maybe um and now we're at four but we had a vision of what we thought it should look like and this community is just again so supportive and like sat down with them, talked to them, we said we'll try it and uh man, we barely made the scratch that it took the first year to do it in year two, but we did and then that kind of set the tone.
So So you you had to the numbers worked out. You didn't like lose your shirt and everybody got paid. We made a little bit. Yeah, we paid all our bills. And that's the thing that's also interesting. It's not like you're doing this as like a capitalist like trying to make a bunch of money to line your pockets.
like you are a member of the the Brownstown Euing Main Street organization. This or that had $3,000 as a membership or so when he says like we're making a little bit of money, that organization's making it's not like you're you're getting paid to do this. That's what I mean that's one of the coolest things about this event is we'll get into volunteers I'm sure, but like the entire town rallies around this. Our board works tirelessly throughout the year. No one makes a dime. This is just 100% passion for the community, trying to generate some revenue to do bigger projects outside of the festival.
Um, and the support is just off the hook. But yeah, that's nobody makes a single dollar off this. Wow. Okay. So, you start to put together uh a budget and like numbers. You go out there, you're calling some local places, you're like, "Hey, would you be our title sponsor?
Would you be the sponsor?" Like, I'm not sure what you're going to get from that exactly, but we promise to make it right for you. And this would be great for the community and people were on board for that. Yeah. And it's it really comes down to this is great for the community with a lot of our partners. I mean, you see all the signage around, we've got everybody's logos and everybody knows who who supports this, but now are you calling so and so because they're on a banner at Rock the Rine.
I'm not trying to sell you that. Like we're all of our sponsors are fairly local within a tri county area and they just want to see this community be successful and this event be be successful and well and they know that it's good for the community. this existing thing, but you're going to remember you're going to remember the people that invest back into your community and help put cool things on. And you're like, you know what? When the time comes that I need electrician or plumber or whatever it might be, I'm going to call them because like they're not just invested by name, they're invested financially in our community. Absolutely.
So, yeah, the a big piece of this is we kind of had a 5-year plan. Like, we knew we were going to have to buy a ton of inventory. The the bike rack and the inflatables and everything we have that we've purchased, we've been pumping back into the festival. At the end of year five, the goal was to be profitable enough to do some revitalization projects. So, that, you know, that's in the community where these sponsors and partners work and live, but then we're going to need contractors for those revitalization projects. So, I think they see the big vision and I we haven't got there yet.
It's just taken a while to build to where we've actually got the revenue and the funds to do some bigger projects, but I think we're getting really, really close. Yeah. Okay. So, year one, who are the headliners there? The Steelwoods, which Wes Bless played for us last night. He's solo now, but yeah, he was here year one on Friday night and Sarah Evans was our headliner on Saturday night.
And uh we're forever grateful for them because it is extremely difficult to book an act like Sarah Evans in a town of 29, 3,000 people. Um, and then you look it up on Google Maps and it doesn't look like the most impressive music venue you've ever seen, right? Like we do. Did you have a lot of conversations with that? Like did there people? It was very difficult.
Um, Drew was a big help there because he had established a reputation in Madison. Um, you know, as as a really solid, great promoter. So, being able to rely a little bit on his reputation helped us pull some of these artists like the Steelwoods in that probably wouldn't have played it if it was me picking up the phone and not knowing what I was talking about. So, his experience was invaluable there. But, yeah, it was very difficult. Year two got a lot easier.
Okay. Year three because you have to like also you don't know you know what goes in a green room. What is a green room? What do they It's like oh yeah so and so only has like I don't know. I think there's some of that's drawn up a little bit but I'm sure there's some of it's true where it's like you need to have certain amount of facilities and things for the the acts the talent that's coming through. Yep.
You're exactly right. And that hospitality side of things is really what like word spreads like wildfire in this um like in the music agencies in this world. So if they come here and we completely drop the ball, word's going to spread and we we're going to have a really hard time booking people the next year. So we put a huge emphasis backstage on taking care of those folks. We've got great hands that work their butts off all week. We started build out on Sunday this week and have been working ever since until about 1:00 a.
m. each night. and um just trying to put that hospitality piece into play, making sure that they've got good hands they can count on, being on schedule, like that's super important to these bands. But we've done a great job of that. It's helped our reputation. The festival's grown pretty significantly quickly.
So, I was going to say, how many people came year 1 versus year two versus year three? We had 800 people there on Thursday night, and we were thrilled, man. Like, for Steelwoods, the 800 people there were like, "All right, we made it." Like, [clears throat] this is a done deal. Did they feel good? I think so.
I mean, they're getting they're getting paid regardless, so like they're fine, whatever. And they're they're more of a regional band. Like, they were doing some support for some really big bands, but they were awesome. So, like 800 wasn't a great crowd for them, but it wasn't terrible. And then Sarah, we had about 1,500 people there the next night. Obviously, a little more name recognition there.
Um, and she was fine. Like, I think she was happy with how the show went and everything, but not a huge crowd for her. Um, but man, we were we thought we lit the world on fire. like that exceeded any expectation we had when we were going through the planning process, 1,500 people and doing as well as we did. So, and like making it to the end of it and saying like, okay, we made some money for our community. Mhm.
And we have enough that like we can go back in again for year two. Yeah. So, year two comes around, you you have some understanding. You know, a little bit about a little bit. How do you start to put together and grow a festival? Year one was huge for us in the sense of everything was on fire all weekend long.
Like we were running around with fire extinguishers putting every problem you can think of. This courthouse when it was or this courthouse square when it was laid out in the 1800s I don't think they were thinking 4,000 population music festival. So um having to go like we didn't have enough electric and like all the infrastructure was one of our biggest issues. And then just security and how the venue was laid out. We learned so much year one and all these volunteers and people that are a part of it kept notes and like want to see it grow. So we got back in the war room and made a bunch of changes and year two was similar much better but similar.
If there was someone out there hosting their first music festival or any sort of big event, what advice would you have like what were landmines that you guys might have stepped on that they could avoid? Yeah, buckle up is what I would tell them first. the infrastructure is a huge deal because there's you see all this stuff sitting around the square. Well, it all takes power and there's just, you know, it's not designed for that. So, power was a huge issue. Water was a huge issue.
Like, we've landed a lot of that now and it's gotten a lot easier. But, um I don't know. I would tell them to call me and I'll tell them the long list of things that they need to think. It's just so much. And also like designing a space, you know, like where your entrance is, where your exit is, where your bathrooms are, like how do you like where lines will be for beer versus like there is a lot of like engineering and like uh infrastructure design that way. Absolutely.
Yeah. So I'm very I was the building commissioner for 10 years, so I'm very familiar with this piece of property and the square. So I think that helped a lot. And then a lot of my volunteers, you know, they're down here all the time or work on the square. So, but like the our our venue layout has changed tremendously over the last four years and I think that just comes from seeing what works and what doesn't. Our beer lines the year two, I mean they were forever long and we got a lot of complaints on that.
So, we took the punches and next year we figured out and didn't have any lines. Well, I was say what do you what do you feel like you have to do about that? Like someone has like one you you and the team at Brownstone Euing Main Street literally made this from nothing. This did not exist 5 years ago. Correct. Right.
Like this is year four. Mhm. This did not exist 5 years ago, which is crazy. You made something out of nothing. Your baby is like coming to life and then everyone looks at it and calls your baby ugly and it's like, "Hey, the beer lines and" and like starts complaining about stuff. How do you navigate that and then move forward and keep coming back year over year?
Yeah. So, we knew it was ugly. So, I mean, it was easy for us to swallow that. Like, most of the feedback we get, it comes from a place of just people wanting to see it succeed. So, I think you've just got to be ready to adapt and make sure we just tell people if there's an issue. It's too late now.
Give us next year and we'll get it corrected. Like, this won't be a problem again. And I think we've done a really good job of addressing that stuff as it's come up. And as long as people come back, they they love it. Like, for the most part, once they get here and see it, it it feels like a big music festival, but it's a 4,000 cap and it's very intimate and people love that. So, and then we have good artists.
So we can get them here once and I think we've done a good job of impressing people and with the hospitality bringing who uh who came here too. Year two we had Travis Trit as one of our headliners and then Charles Wesley Godlin and then we actually that's when we extended to three nights so we pushed it to Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Um year two we had an artist scheduled for Thursday night. They canceled the week before. So like that's happened to us a couple times. That's another nightmare situation.
But what do you do? Luckily, the agencies are pretty good about like, "Hey, this is terrible. We've got to help you fix this." They give us a list of people that are like routed in the area and we were able to find it was them dirty roses is who played Thursday and they crushed it. But very comparable to who we had booked. Are you still paying money?
Like I'm thinking you're going through the agency and you're like, "Hey, we spent 10 grand for our Thursday Night Headliner." And they're like, you get a call the week before they're like, "Oh yeah, by the way, your Thursday Night Headliner's got like we have like these credits that you can roll over into somebody else." Yeah. They would have refunded it, I think, with given the situation, but um they were super great to to really bend over backwards to help us out and make sure we were taken care of. I think they gave us probably a little bit of a discount on the the artist we ended up getting to make it work to to help us out and get us out of a bad spot. So, that's good.
Yeah, that is. And you never know, like I mean I was up at the um I was up at the Dixie Chicks concert like I don't know, three years ago. They sang like two songs and then the lead singer was like, "I literally my throat is just messed up. I can't go on." And it was like, "Dude, that stinks, but that happens." You know, like we just saw the Beach Boys pulled out of the state fair um in Indianapolis because they need to rest.
I mean, they are old. They're like in their 70s or 80s, whatever. But that's interesting. Okay. So, you had Travis Trit and you had Charlie Charles Wesley Godwin and Long Beer lines. So, then you learned from that and you come back for year three.
How many people came year two? What was like the uh we were like 2600 to 3,000. So I think Charles brought in about 26 and Trip was closer like 3 to 3200 somewhere in there. Wow. And were people telling you they were traveling from a few counties around from Indian? Like where were people coming from?
Yeah. Year two we didn't have as tight of demographics as what we do now and what we had last year. But it was definitely like a tri-state feel like Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee. Like that's kind of where we were landing. Yeah. [clears throat] Our lineup was really good that year and like Charles and Cole Cheney and those guys that board Davis, they have a a unique following kind of in that region.
So, um that helps in that like Eastern Kentucky Appalachia. Yes, exactly. Come on. All right. And then how did you do with sponsors and partners and community and and how in this whole time are you getting more volunteers to come and give their time up to put this thing on where no one except for the main street organization is making any money? Yeah.
The So year one, like I said, I felt like we were just putting fires out the whole time and it was chaotic behind the scenes, but people really enjoyed it and they saw the vision and they saw I think they had a belief of what it could turn into. Maybe not this, but at least grow quite a bit. And that was an easy conversation to have year two. I think the the people that were here and the community members, the ones that didn't support it, felt like they missed out and wanted to be a part of it. And the ones that were here saw the vision and were uh more than welcome to even grow that support and that sponsorship. Yeah.
And that seems to like over the last four years that just continues to pick up steam. And I think that just comes from them seeing the effort that we're putting into it and what the potential this thing has now that we've grown quite a bit. Yeah. And so you talk about growing quite a bit. last year, year three of Rock the Ride was insane. Mhm.
Um largely a huge culmination was Steven Wilson Jr. coming and playing. Talk to me about how that ended up coming around and was he on your radar from the beginning? Obviously, he's from Seymour, right? He's from Jackson County. Uh but he kind of also all the stars kind of aligned where he really exploded in, you know, 2425 timeline.
Yeah. So last year was the first time that we felt like we had our feet underneath us and really knew what we were doing, like we had something. And Steven was a huge part of that. I mean, the local following as well as what he's turned into. We booked him at the perfect time. I mean, right after we booked him is when he really started to transcend transcend and take off.
He was on our radar the first couple years, but we knew bringing him home would be really, really special. So, we kind of intentionally waited to book him until we felt like we had solidified this. And man, it worked out. It was such a cool show. Yeah. 4,200 people here and it was uh it was special.
It was a special night, dude. I I can only imagine was he like I mean I'm sure he was like super cool to work with here. He is a phenomenal human being. Like I've never heard anybody say anything other than that about him. And after the show he came off the stage, he walked the bike rack and he signed and talked to every single person that stuck around. And it was a lot.
It wasn't a couple hundred people. And yeah, it was a really special weekend. and I think he appreciated it. Um, bringing those people in that maybe wouldn't have come previously, even like within our county, you know, there's always a little Brownstown Seymour thing like any county has their rivalry between your two your two bigger schools and we got a lot of Seymour people here when Steven was here cuz they wanted to support him and then they got here and they thought, "Wow, this is really cool." And now we see a lot of those familiar faces back again this year. And I think him being here really helped kind of grow it into where where we're at this year.
And it is in Brownstone, but make it a Jackson County thing. Absolutely. Yeah. Like like I said that exists like in people's heads. We do not want that to exist. This is the Jackson County Watermelon Festival.
So yeah, we want every anybody and everybody here. This episode of Get In is sponsored by Greeks Pizzeria, an Indiana original serving scratchmade pizza since [music] 1969. For more than 55 years, they've stayed focused on what matters. Hanthos Dough, housemade sauce, fresh ingredients, and pizza that people genuinely want to come back for. With locations [music] all across Indiana, Greeks is probably closer than you think. It's one of those names that Hoosiers just know.
They've been around for generations, and there's a reason for that. So, [music] next time you're trying to figure out pizza night, make it Greeks. Find your nearest location, check out the menu, and order at greeks [music] pizzeria. com. Now, let's get back into the episode. When it comes to using this festival as a means for community transformation, right?
Like the idea is people come, they buy the tickets, they buy the beer, their sponsorship, the whole thing. You know, it puts on this awesome event that is good for quality of place. You know, you talk about people liking and not waiting for being excited for kind of this back to school time when Rock the Ryan's going to happen. Amazing. How are you guys doing on the side of using it as a tool to fund uh capital projects in the city? Yeah, I I think we're really really close to being able to do some big stuff.
Like we're finally producing enough income from the festival to be able to pump that back into the town. There's just so much like we've talked about the power infrastructure. like we had to put all that in out of pocket and then the organizations bought bike rack and cable covers and I think last year we spent over $100,000 on stuff that we just needed. Well, now we own that. So now hopefully that money can be pumped back into the town rather than be utilized to purchase equipment that we need, picnic tables or whatever that may be. So we're really excited for the next couple years and what that looks like around town, not just in early August, but yeah, year round.
Is there like a a project that's on the horizon that like that the entire town is excited about? We've got a wish list. Uh nothing really public yet. It's just this thing has been growing so quickly. It's taken a lot of our energy away from other stuff. But I think it's going to pay off in the long run because I think we're going to be able to do a lot more than we ever have.
Yeah. I mean, you talk about being a again a town of 3,000 people. If you can get something that generates over like your entire budget of a hundred, 200, $300,000, maybe more a year by putting on a fun weekend and it's a great we made our budget like now we can go deploy this capital around and then rinse and repeat for next year. Yeah. One thing that we it's a definitely a priority for us and this is not exciting and it's not flashy, but we've applied for some grants in the past with different organizations throughout the state and we don't have like a main street plan or a thoroughfare plan or a comprehensive plan. So, we go and I can show them all the cool stuff we're doing without any help from anybody like Rock the Rind.
Like, this is completely uh community supported. We don't have any grant funds or anything coming in. And that looks really good on a resume. Then they say, "Let me see your comprehensive plan. We need one of those." And I know like that's not something that's going to it's going to sit on a shelf and be utilized, but it's not going to be out here on the square itself.
It's not sexy. It's not. And it's like the doer in me, the doer in a lot of people is like, "Why the hell do we need it?" It's like find a problem and go fix the problem. But having, you know, your ducks in a row and knowing that like the things that that the uh comprehensive plan will uncover is like infrastructure and tax like all of these things that aren't fun, you know, all these things that are happening behind the scenes. And I think we just have to let people know that that is not fun.
That is not sexy. That's not flashy. But the $2 million that could be attached to it in a grant cycle that we get because we have it is very flashy and very fun and we can do a lot of cool stuff. Yeah, absolutely, man. Okay, well, give me the update. So, Stephen Wilson Jr.
last year, then you start to put together year four of Rock the Rind, and I mean, the whole thing was a 5-year plan. Do you feel like you're on pace for where you wanted to be? Do you feel like the county, the community has rallied around this, and and what does the future for Rock the Ride look like? Yeah, I think we're always going to be looking for how to improve and elevate the experience for everybody here, but I do think we're getting pretty close as far as like layout and you know, our our occup or our capacity is around 4,4200. I think we're just going to sell it out at that. I would love to get to a point where we're out of tickets in April and it's something that everybody looks forward to the lineup coming out and buying their tickets early in the year, not walking up and coming.
That's fine. But with our capacity and what this has grown into, I think we're going to get to a spot where now our tickets are sold out. We can start focusing again on how do we elevate the experience for these 4,200 people. So, it it's exceeded our expectations. You asked like, are we where we think we were? We are well beyond where we ever thought we would be.
But, I do think we're getting to a point where now it's uh tweaking the final touches and continuing to to build on what we have rather than we need to do mass changes and mass upgrades. I'm I'm curious if there are other people listening out there that um that are in communities and want to make a change and want to do maybe it's not a music festival. They want to impart change in their community. What advice would you have for those people? You you better be passionate about it and ready to work your tail off because everybody's involved in this. I mean, it is it is not a show up the weekend of and get your hands dirty.
We have people that show up the weekend of and volunteer, but for a lot of people, this is a year year-long event that we're planning for. And you know, everybody's got families and real jobs. And if you're going to take this by the horns, it's it's it's a big endeavor, but it's awful rewarding when it all comes together. That's for sure. I love that, man. Well, we've come to the end of the show.
We have a couple fun questions for you. This question is brought to you by our friends at JC Hart. They're a leader in creating enjoyable living experiences at apartment communities all across Indiana and beyond. Check them out at homejart. com. My question for you, why do you call Indiana home?
Yeah. Uh, the people. It's as simple as that. I mean, I I've grown up here my whole life in this community and this state have been so good to me and presented me so many opportunities that, you know, just the driving down the road and everybody's waving and the hospitality and the friendliness. I think that's one of the things that make this festival so special is just the people like the volunteers and and the effort they're putting in to make this work and how they're treating everybody. I think you guys were here late last night when you were walking out.
There's not a piece of trash on the ground out there. Like they're just working their tails off to make sure everyone is here in Brownstown having a fantastic time. So yeah, I I love it, man. Who's your at heart? For sure. I love that, man.
Uh what is something you saw or witnessed at Rock the Rhine that made you think this is why we do this? How many people are bringing like this is their family reunion every year? Like that's what it's all about. I've got friends [snorts] that are bringing their family and friends from out of state. I mean across the country and everybody flies in for this weekend and has a fantastic time. Like the festival itself is really really cool, but the fellowship around it and like the community and the family, it's just it's so cool to see everybody come together and have a great time.
I love it, dude. Okay, we've come to the final part of the show where we ask the same three questions to every guest. So, first, this is your opportunity to shed some light on a part of the state that more people need to be talking about. What is a hidden gem in Indiana? Yeah. So, shameless shameless plug.
I think he found the hidden gem right here and I'm excited to have you guys festival in the smallest town. That's right. But um outside of what we're doing here, I I've talked about Drew Eids and Madison and he runs Unbroken Circle Music Festival and that is a very special weekend with very similar vibes to what we have here. Drew is as important to this as as anybody. And what he's doing over there, again, the vibes really mimic what we've got going on. And I go over there every year.
my wife and I usually go and I'm helping Drew out and kind of working behind the scenes. But right on the river, you've been to Madison like beautiful place. That is uh that's a pretty special community over there. I don't know if it's as much of a hidden gym anymore, but because it's growing very quickly, but it's a great spot. I love that. Okay, you kind of did a two in one there, but uh this question is how we get new podcast guests and learn about other people that are doing big things.
Who's a who we need to keep on our radar? Someone who's doing big things. I did do two in one because Drew Eids is doing some very very big things over there in Madison. And man, he's just I know I've said this a couple times, but he is so important to what we've built here on the artist side of things. Like we we feel like our crew really takes care of like making things look pretty, working our tails off, making sure that that that we we've got the assets he needs to succeed, but he's been such a tremendous help bringing in the type of talent that we have been able to get. I don't think we would be where we are without him.
I think we'd still be in that regional regional talent level and this thing wouldn't be anywhere close to what it is now. So that's so cool. Yeah, Drew's a phenomenal dude and definitely somebody you should talk to in the future. Finally, this is the last question that we ask every guest. When you think about your time growing up in Jackson County, living in smalltown Indiana, and helping make a big impact, when you close your eyes and think about it, what is your favorite Indiana memory? Yeah.
So, this is completely unrelated, but we have been diehard Indiana Hooser football fans before there was anything to get excited about. We've been going over there since I was a kid and we've had season tickets for a handful of years now. And we were we were fortunate enough to go to the Peach Bowl in Atlanta and then uh to Miami for the national championship last year. And dude, that was my wife and I went with some friends. It was one of the best times we've had in a long time. And funny story, Clayton Anderson was actually there and he was playing.
and he's a a guest of guest of ours this weekend for Rock the Run. He was playing at Tin Roof after the show and we were there until about 4:00 p. m. and somebody bought the bar out and it was uh it was a great night. 4 p. m.
or 4 a. m. 4 a. m. I'm sorry. Yeah.
4 was it was uh was it Hasbro? It was probably Hasbro. I don't know. I never Nobody ever told us, but we're forever grateful. And that was a uh that was a fun night to be a Hooser for sure. Dude, I remember he was playing down there and it just looked legendary.
I would say a lot of people if I thought about it like a moment that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. The opening interception at the Peach Bowl. Yes. That place was shaking. It was unbelievable. That's so sick.
You got sat down. You got your drink in your hand. I think I got about three beers dumped on me cuz immediately everybody goes up and you don't care at all. He's like, "Let's go." Absolutely not. And then proceeds to just absolutely, you know, break out.
Just go crazy on that game. It got pretty boring pretty quick. I love it, man. Well, it's been great to learn more about you and about Rock the Rind and what you guys are doing down here in Jackson County and Brownstone. I I think it's incredible. I think that it's individuals like you and the whole crew at um Browntown Euing Main Street that are I don't know just thinking in innovative ways and willing to go out there, you know, get your hands dirty, put something together like van like dream big and then work hard and make that come to life.
I think it's so cool, man. I appreciate that. If people want to learn more about you, if they want to learn more about the Brownstown Main Street organization, how can they do that? Yeah, so we're going through a facelift on the Brownstown Union Main Street side of things because of how quickly this is all evolving. Brownstone mainstream. org is our website.
We we see that changing a lot here in the near future. Rock therine. com is where you find all the happenings going on this weekend and moving forward. Um, I I uh as far as me personally, I I live work here in Brownstown at Foresight Land Surveying and anybody that wants to reach out about anything to do with what we've talked about, we are more than happy, anybody on our board's more than happy to have a conversation and do whatever we can to make Indiana a better place. I would say if you are, let's say you're in a town of 3 5,000 people and you're curious on what you can be doing, like you've got a really innovative approach here of how you're thinking about it and what you're doing to help push your your small town forward. And and again, we got on a call, I don't know, maybe a month or two ago, and just chitchated it.
It'll be great. It'll be worth it. You'll pick up some good stuff. So, I I highly recommend that. Appreciate you, man. And I guess now it's time for us to enjoy some music this weekend.
Yeah, absolutely, man. I'm excited. This show is made possible by our friends up at Sweetwater. Whether you're looking to start a podcast or take your content to the next level, click the link in the description to see all my gear recommendations at [music] Sweetwater. If you want a behind-the-scenes look at everything we're doing across the state, make sure you follow me on Instagram and Tik Tok, Nate Spangle. Thank you so [music] much for listening and being a part of what makes the Hooer State great.