Free Festival in Cherokee Park to Highlight Music, Art, Activism
LOUISVILLE, KY - Music, art and activism will share equal billing at the first major festival to be held in Cherokee Park in a decade. The 2005 Forecastle Festival will be held on Saturday July 30th from 12:30 to 10:30 PM with twenty-two bands from across the Midwest, forty local visual artists, and thirty activist organizations. In addition, the festival will boast a Louisville-vs.-Lexington game as the Midwest Ultimate Frisbee Tournament All-Stars will play an exhibition match. A rock climbing wall will also be a
part of the festivities.
Festival organizer J.K. McKnight single handedly organized the first Forecastle in 2002 on a shoestring budget of $1000 - 1200. This year, McKnight solicited corporate and media sponsorship for the first time and raised over $60,000 worth of cash and in-kind support. Moving the festival to Cherokee Park from Tyler Park, where it was held for its first three years, will allow for two 40-ft. music stages (the West stage will be at the base of Barringer Hill, the East in the Frisbee field), connected by a forested canopy where the visual artists and activist groups will exhibit.
The festival is free and open to the public.
Forecastle 2005 bands include Shipping News, Sean Garrison & the Five Finger Discount, a.m. Sunday, the Children, Joe Manning, Arch, the October, and Follow the Train. Visual artists include Matt Weir, Mike Ratterman, Kathy Olliges, Audria Radmacher, Bigfatartcat, and Jeff Gaither, who designed the Forecastle 2005 poster. Activist groups include the Sierra Club, Bioneers, Louisville Audubon Society, Earth First, Earthsave and the Community Farm Alliance. A complete line-up is available on the Forecastle website.
"What began as a 6-band concert in Tyler Park, is now the largest gathering of musicians, artists, and activists in the state of Kentucky," says McKnight. "On July 30th, 2005, history will be made when the first festival in over 10 years rocks Cherokee Park."
