Music Festival Prep 101

I was drawn to this apprenticeship at Apple Acres specifically because it was marketed as a “farm and music apprenticeship.” Through July a lot of our duties include preparations for the Ossipee Valley Music Festival, a 4 days music festival, preceded by a 4-day string instrument camp, that runs down the road from the farm at the end of July. 

This intrigued me because before working on the farm, before working in public radio, I worked in commercial radio, one of which was a station that played alternative rock music. And the years I clocked there brought some of the best days I’ve called work yet, getting paid to go to concerts, run meet and greets with some of my favorite artists, and watch what goes into building stages and events that people look forward to for weeks and months beforehand.

But this festival is quite different. Commercial radio is more, well…commercial, and with that comes money, managers, and teams of people to help. Not to blow up their spot, but the Ossipee Valley Music Festival is run mostly out of Bill and Molly’s home, the people who also run Apple Acres.

If you go to the music festival this year, or any year, I hope you think about Jojo, Molly and me laminating credential badges at the kitchen table on a rainy day, sitting on the couch delegating wrist bands and picking ticks off our bodies, laying out schedules and maps and stuffing folders for string camp attendees while dogs run all over our piles and progress. I’ve never seen anything like it, and I cant wait to see the fruits of our humble labor come July 25th. Hope we see you there!

– Caitlin