With good vibes for a great cause, Austin Reggae Fest is a favorite local event
The Austin Reggae Fest began selling tickets for admission well over 15 years ago, but that doesn’t stop the occasional old school Austinite from wandering up to the front gate and trying to barter entry with a couple cans of food.
The event, now in its 21st year, has grown from its nappy roots as a ragtag local celebration of spring to a legitimate music fest featuring internationally acclaimed reggae artists. Though the donations come in the form of cash instead of cans these days, it’s also the largest annual fundraiser for Capital Area Food Bank of Central Texas. Last year the fest raised more than $260,000 to help the nonprofit combat hunger.
Producer Patrick Costigan attributes some of the event’s success to the cause it supports. Back in the day when those two cans of food would buy your way in, organizers were shocked by the community’s response. “The first year we were overloaded with donations,” Costigan said last week.
The event’s popularity has exploded and usually draws massive crowds with Auditorium Shores entry lines that can stretch across the South First Street bridge (this year’s fest moves to nearby Butler Park because of ongoing Auditorium Shores renovations). The fest’s crowd also represents arguably the most diverse cross-section of Austinites at any local music event. From hula hoop girls, aging wizards and a full spectrum of dreadlocks to clean-cut college students and soccer moms, it seems like everyone shows up.
“Reggae does have an appeal to people of all kinds from all over the world,” said Angela Tharp, the fest’s booker and Austin’s top authority on reggae music who has owned downtown reggae club Flamingo Cantina for more than two decades. The “consciousness of the music” which, in the spirit of pioneer Bob Marley, often advocates for peace and equality, is key to the universal appeal, she said. “People come to my venue sometimes and they’re like, ‘Oh my god I feel like I’ve been in church, but I’ve been in a club,’” she said.
The fact that the music also tends to advocate marijuana probably doesn’t hurt either.
In booking this year’s festival, Tharp tried to emphasize conscious roots reggae, a sub-genre she says is enjoying a revival in Jamaica after years of ascendancy by club-centric dancehall music. New school Kingston band Rootz Underground, who headline the festival on Saturday, are leaders of that revival with a sound that resonates with both classic reggae fans and younger audiences. On Sunday, veteran conscious reggae artist Everton Blender, who emerged in the clubs of Kingston in the late ‘70s, headlines.
For Friday’s lineup Tharp took a different tack, booking perennial Austin faves the Easy Star All-Stars, a New York City reggae collective best known for their covers of pop and rock albums. A few years ago the All-Stars were a big hit at the fest playing “The Dub Side of the Moon” a take on Pink Floyd’s classic album, but they’ve also done versions of “Sgt. Peppers” and “Thriller.” The band is celebrating the 10th anniversary of the “Moon” so their set will likely pull heavily from that album. Friday also features the classic Jamaican band Inner Circle. The band is best known for the song “Bad Boys,” which was picked up as the theme song for the TV show “Cops,” but Tharp says they have a surprising number of hits.
Going into this year’s festival organizers were careful to spread the hard-hitting talent across the three days in an attempt to alleviate Saturday crowds that have packed the festival in recent years; the move to Butler Park has reduced capacity somewhat. To preserve space, the festival’s “tent city,” where fest-goers can create private lounge spaces, has been eliminated this year and the vendor’s market will spread into the areas around Palmer Events Center. Still, if Saturday’s attendance numbers rival what they were last year when Costigan estimates more than 20,000 people showed up, the festival might face its first sell out.
Tharp isn’t worried. “That would be a great problem to have,” she said.
Austin Reggae Festival
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: With good vibes for a great cause, Austin Reggae Fest is a favorite local event