In only its second year, the day-long event allows local high school students to get hands-on experience, running everything from light and sound to ticketing and vendor booths. “Eighty-five percent of our entire field is students, with adult mentors,” says Pam Lush-Lindquist, Wooden Hawk Foundation president. “We want them to have the skin in the game to represent who they are and what they’re doing.”
The native nonprofit organized the first Mountain Music Festival last year and it’s already proven to be a great vehicle in helping local youth gain invaluable insight into the music and entertainment industry, she adds. All proceeds also support the foundation’s larger initiatives, including the current Evergreen High School Futures Center and Alumni Center project.
“We wanted to give something in a large way that would be a training ground,” Lush-Lindquist explains. “We started the Mountain Music Fest with one goal in mind, to invest into our students. We wanted for them to be able to be on a major stage helping with lighting, sound, parking, marketing, event planning, food vendor.
“We wanted them to be able to see the likes of Flobots in a major, major way and then for them to have experiences they could never have on their own.”
Denver hip-hop group Flobots is one of the headliners during this year's Mountain Music Festival.
Courtesy Flobots
The members of Flobots are no strangers to giving back. The philanthropic group, which comprises Jamie “Jonny 5” Laurie, Stephen “Brer Rabbit” Brackett, Kenny “KennyO” Ortiz and Andy “Rok” Guerrero, rarely ever passes up an charitable opportunities, whether that’s making an appearance at an event like Mountain Music Festival or individually through other educational outlets.
“How can you not? Particularly for musicians, when our livelihood is literally constantly a dialogue with the folks who support us, how can you not give back?” says Brackett. "I do think that’s something about Colorado musicians, it’s more of an expectation and a joy to do so.”
Given his background with Youth on Record, a music nonprofit that focuses on youth, Brackett knows just how powerful connecting with young, aspiring creatives can be. “I think now more than ever, it’s really transparent how tough it is for kids right now,” he says.
“But one significant conversation per week is enough to get a child through high school and thriving. That can be a physics teacher. That can be a janitor. That can be a coach. That can be a mentor. With that in mind, maybe it can be a Flobot.”
With access to after-school programs, career guidance and extracurricular activities becoming more restricted and strained, it’s easy to be upset and wonder what can be done. Sometimes effecting change can be easier than you think, as Brackett sees it.
“What are the different ways that we can avail ourselves to, not the problem, but the opportunity of being in a relationship or mentorship of use?” he proposes.
“I think a lot of problems have incredible, crushing complexity, but the solutions do not. I feel like the very basis of what this foundation and festival does is based on those simple solutions of showing up, listening and having that kind of dialogue. It’s the most important thing, especially now.”
Plus, Brackett and his bandmates remember the high school heydays when they were all teens with a passion and knack for music-making.
“I can relate to them so much because it’s like, ‘I was you,’” says guitarist Guerrero, who is also a CU-Denver senior music instructor. “I was that kid. I know exactly what it’s like to work five jobs and try to be a musician.”
He also knows that sometimes a concert doesn’t end when the music stops, which is the impact Mountain Music Festival aims to have.
“A show can be pretty life-changing for people,” Guerrero concludes. “So it’s a good excuse on a Saturday to come up to Evergreen, see what’s going on in the community and catch a good show.”
Mountain Music Festival, noon Saturday, August 16, Buchanan Park, 32003 Ellingwood Trail, Evergreen. Tickets are $25-$30.
