Lynchbrrr coming soon

Lynchstock Music Festival presents a winter extension of the popular event

Three years ago, the city of Lynchburg was introduced to the first Lynchstock Music Festival. At first, it was a backyard getup that involved a total of four local bands. Lynchstock 2013 sparked a desire for two friends in the city, Jonathan Smalt and the late Jonathan David Gregoire, to have what is now called Lynchstock Music Festival.

Lynchstock Music Festival is designed to bring together the people of central Virginia to see artists perform and to collect local small businesses and the community of Lynchburg together.
After Gregoire died in a train accident in the fall of 2014, the following Lynchstock Music Festival in the spring was commemorated in his honor.

With three years of the festival running and improving year-to-year, Smalt is using the power of community and collaboration to bring the city of Lynchburg a new and innovative event this December, “Lynchbrrr Winter Music Festival.” The event will be held in different venues downtown on December 4th and 5th.

“After the success of Lynchstock in April, we couldn’t wait for a whole year before doing another event,” Smalt said.

Nathan McGlothin, the production manager, is a Lynchburg native working in the music scene and is heavily involved in the coordination of the two-day event.

“I would say (Lynchbrrr’s) a few things,” McGlothlin said. “For one, it’s simply an extension of the ‘Lynchstock’ effort, which has always been to celebrate music and visual art that reveals itself to the Hill City. We host artists who call Lynchburg home … In another vein, ‘Lynchbrrr’ is a unique opportunity to introduce the multi-venue model to our city.”

Smalt believes that this town is ready for something that can continually move into the direction of festivals in the likes of Austin, Texas’ South by Southwest Festival, or Bonaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee.

“The holiday season is littered with the “get together” mindset,” McGlothlin said. “Town carnivals, work parties, special events in retail establishments, church services — people are ready to enjoy time with each other.”

In the month of September, an event known as “Get Downtown” is held where Main Street in downtown Lynchburg is closed off for the small businesses, food trucks and live music.

“Where the idea solidified for me was when I visited a music festival in Cleveland, Ohio, called ‘Brite Winter,’” Smalt said. “I was playing drums for a songwriter, and it was in the middle of February. Most of the stages were outdoors. The air was frigidly around 12 degrees, and it was snowing during our set. Regardless, over 20,000 people showed up and supported local music and culture. Though everyone was freezing, there was such a tangible excitement in the air. It was during this set that I thought, ‘Lynchburg needs our own version of this.’”

The Friday events of Lynchbrrr Winter Music Festival will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Academy of Fine Arts with a documentary film of Lynchstock along with other films for the Lynchburg 48 Hour Film Project. This will be the first incorporation of film into the Lynchstock Music Festival according to Smalt. Following the movie, at 8 p.m., shows of all kinds will kick off in three venues including spoken word, poetry and music.

Saturday will be a larger ticketed event at the Academy of Fine Arts from 5:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. For a price of $12, attendees will enjoy a concert from bands like Civil Twilight, The Vespers, Forlorn Strangers, Native Spirit, Dogwood & Holly, FIN and Lloyd Harmon.

At the previous Lynchstock Music Festival, the parents of Gregoire were in attendance enjoying the event as honored guests. According to Jon Gregoire’s father, Mark Gregoire, events are not meant to make a large profit instead they are designed to be as affordable as possible, without sacrificing quality, giving some of the money to local non-profit ministries after expenses. Mark Gregoire says this was a point from the big picture that the two Jon’s had put together after the music festival of 2014.

“Social media will be abuzz with pictures, videos and clever quips about some cool thing that people had never experienced before. It will be a ‘You had to be there’ event,” McGlothlin said.

The lineup is already set for the bands scheduled to perform and for the vendors and local business gathering December 4 and 5. There will be a variety of musical genres including folk, indie, hip-hop, alternative rock and hard rock.

“I can’t wait to see how this community joins together to support music and the arts,” Smalt said.

For more information of the music festival and updates on the event, visit lynchstockmusicfestival.com or search Lynchstock Presents: Lynchbrrr on Facebook.

CASTEL is a sports reporter.