Christian music festival offers 'positive alternative'

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September 1, 2010

By Pete Chiodo MEADVILLE TRIBUNE The Meadville Tribune Wed Sep 01, 2010, 07:00 AM EDT

MEADVILLE — The Ignite Festival got it’s start one year ago.

“Yeah,” said Brandon Hough, worship leader at Watson Run Church, the main organizer for the festival, “we were going to consider it a success if we got 500 people.”

Instead, an army of about 5,000 young folks showed up at Hough’s backyard in Vernon Township looking to enjoy a couple of nights of modern Christian music and to hang out with some like-minded souls.

“We were pretty much blown away by last year,” said Hough. “And (the people) came from a pretty big radius, too. I know people that were there from Rochester (N.Y.), Columbus (Ohio).”

The second annual Ignite Festival takes place Sept. 10, 11 and 12, again at Hough’s 40-acre property at 14849 Brown Hill Road, Meadville. And festival organizers are prepared for another big crowd.

“We’re expecting, realistically, 6,000 to 10,000 this year,” said Hough. “I’ve already got youth groups that have called and made commitments from Michigan, Maryland.”

The festival will play host to 13 national music acts, like Bread of Stone from Iowa, Disciple from Tennessee, DecembeRadio from Virgina, and Stellar Kart from Arizona, just to name a few.

The concerts run from 6 to 11 p.m. on Sept. 10. Then on Sept. 11, the music will play all day long — 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. There will also be guest speakers, camping, vendors and a church service on Sunday morning.

And admission is entirely free. The shows, the parking, the camping; all free.

“We felt pretty strongly that this should be something that is free,” said Hough. “Any church can bring its youth group out and camp for the weekend and not worry too much about how much it’s going to cost. Honestly, I think that’s why we had such good attendance last year. No charge.”

So, how is all this paid for?

“Therein lies the trick to all this,” said Hough.

He estimates the festival costs around $30,000 to pull off — 13 bands, the lighting, the sound system, publicity, countless other logistical considerations. The money’s got to come from somewhere.

Well, according to Hough, Watson Run Church picks up a large chunk of the tab. The rest comes from sponsorships by other churches and businesses. A lot of needed items are donated, or offered at discounts. Then there are going to be around 150 volunteers who work at the festival, added to the core group of about a dozen who handle the planning.

“We do a lot of begging and borrowing and trading to get it all put together,” said Hough.

One of the organizers’ key partnerships is with the band Bread of Stone. For five years prior to the Ignite Festival, Watson Run Church put on another festival called Revival, which booked various different genres of music in hopes of attracting a broad range of age groups.

“It never really took off,” said Hough. “The biggest crowd we ever had was 400 people.”

Organizers regrouped and decided to focus on younger people for its next festival, which became Ignite.

Anyway, one of the first bands booked for Revival was Bread of Stone. And over the subsequent years, Bread of Stone built itself a successful production company, bringing along its own lighting and sound gear and renting it out to other bands.

“The first year they played here they had a Chevy Tahoe and a little trailer behind it,” said Hough. “By the fifth year, they had a huge tour bus and huge cargo trailer behind bus. Now they bring semi trucks.”

Because of the relationship that festival organizers have with Bread of Stone, the festival not only gets a popular rock band on it’s bill, it also gets the production equipment at a nice discount.

“We’ve got top-of-the-line sound and lighting,” said Hough. “It’s not something you would expect to find at some farm on the outskirts of Meadville.”

So what’s the motive here? Why go through all this work and spend all that money?

According to Hough, it’s all about reaching the youth.

“I guess the idea behind it is that we want to be a positive alternative to other things that high school and college students can get into,” said Hough. “Our goal is to get kids out there having fun, enjoying the music and the speakers. And we’re also hoping that they’ll get involved in a church or a youth group for the school year as a result of it.”

you can help

Businesses of churches interested can still be a sponsor for next weekend’s Ignite Festival. For more information, call Watson Run Church at 337-2886, or go to theignitefestival.com.

You Can Go

The 2010 Ignite Festival is Sept. 10, 11 and 12 at the Hough Farm, 14849 Brown Hill Road, Meadville. Parking is free. Camping is free. Admission is free.

Gates open at noon on Sept. 10. Shows start at 6 p.m. Featured acts that Friday are Reilly, Wavorly, Philmont and Stellar Kart.

On Sept. 11, music starts at 10 a.m. and lasts all the way until 11 p.m. The bands for that Saturday include Shine Bright Baby, Skyhawk Drive, Willet, The Great Transparency, Satellites and Sirens, Bread of Stone, John Reuben, DecembeRadio and Disciple.

A church service will conclude the festival on Sept. 12 at 10 a.m.

- More information: Visit www.theignitefestival.com.

Pete Chiodo can be reached at 724-6370 ext. 275 or by e-mail at pchiodo@meadvilletribune.com.

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Christian music festival offers 'positive alternative'

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