Goose is loose again this weekend: UAA’s music fest headlined by a trio of local acts
UAA’s popular music festival GooseFest is back for a third year this Saturday. Featuring the musical stylings of The Super Saturated Sugar Strings, The Hannah Yoter Band and Todd Grebe & Cold Country, this year’s festival is taking on a decidedly folky slant.
“The selection process for pretty much everything we do is brainstorming with the student staff and really getting their opinions and what they feel is best suited for the university. From there, it’s up to us to reach out and make it happen,” explained UAA Student Activities Assistant Coordinator Joe Selmont. “This year’s festival has definitely taken on a decidedly folk vibe and has lent itself well to a whole bunch of goose related puns.”
“We definitely wanted to do a folky, HONKyTONK feel,” laughed UAA student organizer Savana Hartley.
“GooseFest is an interesting festival because it doesn’t have a particular type of music that we go with each year. Last year we went with a very islandy style and obviously this year it’s a honky tonk. Who knows, maybe next year we go with EDM!”
Fans of GooseFest may initially be disheartened by a smaller lineup this year but Hartley is confident that attendees will get a much more fulfilling experience this year.
“Last year the festival just went really long and by the last couple of bands people were leaving,” explained Hartley. “It ended up that the organizers were the only ones left and we just felt like it wasn’t fair to the musicians. So this year we shortened up the list and have made a really big effort to emphasize the times each group will be playing so people can plan their day out and hopefully we can have a continual flow of people coming throughout the festival.”
If folk isn’t your favorite brand of music, GooseFest organizers have worked hard to make sure there is something for everyone to enjoy.
“We are going to have giant hamster balls, an adult sized blow-up (jumping) castle, a dunk tank where you can dunk our current student body president. Surprisingly, that was his idea,” chuckled Selmont.
“We also have a make your own crown station, tie-dye shirts, a food truck! There’s really a bunch of different things to do and it’s going to be a blast,” added Hartley.
