What does it take to put together one of Bentonville’s cherished annual music festivals? FreshGrass Bentonville, organized in partnership with the FreshGrass Foundation, recently celebrated its fifth festival at The Momentary. A weekend filled with local and international musicians, spanning multiple stages, as well as craft makers and local vendors, requires a community of committed folks dedicated to offering the best possible grassroots experience.
Will Eubanks is the director of music and production for The Momentary, but began his career with the venue as a production manager. "My history with Crystal Bridges actually goes back to ten years ago when they first started doing the North Forest concerts,” he said. “Having been a local musician for many years, this position has been really important to me, knowing that we give a platform to local artists.”
Eubanks claims The Momentary is an ideal venue for festivals, especially for the community it serves - a community that loves quality entertainment but also wants to be up early for a group ride or coffee meeting. There’s a certain demographic, he says, that wants to be out there, but they have families and can’t spend days camping and surrounded by questionable substances. “I think the venue really lends itself to being a new way of experiencing a festival like FreshGrass. I've got kids of my own, and I can bring them to this festival.”
With an all-ages, family-friendly demographic in mind, and a passionate foundation at the planning table, efforts to coordinate the next FreshGrass Bentonville begin right after the current festival ends. “We took about two weeks off to catch our breath,” Eubanks shared. “Then we're immediately back into planning for the next one.”
Beginning with budget, as most events do, the FreshGrass planning team hashes out programming and marketing first, which Eubanks says takes four or five months. “We're having conversations like, ‘What did we do last year that was successful? What did we do that wasn't successful? How do we message things differently?’ That's the back and forth for months until we finally get to the point where we're ready to announce.”
With the event framework in place, this is when operations and specialty curators get involved. “We set the two main stages, and then start thinking about what other things are going to happen, like the artists on the smaller stages, the vendors, and the pop-up activations,” Eubanks said. “It's all these other things that make a festival.”
One of these special, festival-forming elements is the House of Songs’ Songrider program. Founded by musician Troy Campbell, House of Songs [HOS] aims to create a network of talented individuals who can support each other as they navigate the music industry. One of the ways Campbell achieves this mission is by finding creative ways to capitalize on opportunities, like FreshGrass, to connect and promote local artists.
“Last year I pitched Songrider because I'd run into Peter Stevenson [HOS project and grants manager],” Campbell shared. “He was a grant writer and an avid biker, and he ran a nonprofit for a symphony up north. He said, ‘I just want to do things that involve music and I love biking.’ So I said, ‘I have an idea.”
Three months before FreshGrass 2024, Campbell and Stevenson approached the planning team with an idea to merge local musicians and NWA bike organizations for an experience that would inspire new songs that would perform at FreshGrass. “I said, ‘How can I add value to your festival? I need people to see more people who are aspiring.”
This year, a collection of local performers with styles ranging from hip-hop and mariachi to country and folk shared their NWA biking stories through song on the Momentary’s RØDE House stage. The tone of their lyrics encompassed themes of humor, peace, camaraderie, and Ozark appreciation.
“We've had a long-standing relationship with House of Songs in this festival,” Eubanks said. “I feel like this is a thing that's going to stick for a while.”
With another successful festival in the books, this is a sentiment local musicians and fans can expect from FreshGrass Bentonville as a whole.