Jugfest celebrates friendship with music, food, beer, games

by Darren Diekmann

news@thenewsleader.com

If you missed out on Joetown Rocks or if you prefer a celebration with a smaller and more intimate group – plus a chance to make new friends – Jugfest may be the summer event for you.

Jugfest is held at Millstream Park in St. Joseph to celebrate friendship with live music, food, beer and games. It gets its name from the jug that has been around since the beginning and into which people put donations to fund the event.

Jugfest has grown in its 10 or so years but remains relatively small. Ryan Heitland, one of the event’s organizers, said he expects this year’s crowd to be about 300 people. With the exception of a few items for sale, it’s funded by free-will offerings.

Jugfest has been a Saturday-only event in the past. This year, it begins at 8 p.m. Friday, July 22, with three bands playing until about 11 p.m. On Saturday, music starts at 3 p.m. and features eight bands. Two locally-known acts (Gibby Hibbies and The Darners) will play toward the end of each day. Heitland described both bands as “Indie funk” and “upbeat.”

The line-up also includes more local bands, as well as some Twin Cities bands. The bands that travel a distance might get gas money, Heitland said, but for the most part they play for free. A full listing of bands can be found on Facebook by searching for “Jugfest 2016.”

“They mostly volunteer,” he said. “They come to have fun, get their name out there and sell merchandise.”

Jeff Engholm, owner of the Local Blend coffee shop in St. Joseph, has donated the sound equipment this year as he has in years’ past, Heitland said. It’s such donations or items, and services provided at cost from friends with connections that help make this annual event a success.

“We had friends who were in bands that were coming out anyway, and they would play music while everyone was hanging out,” Heitland said.

A large cookout and potluck will be held Saturday around dinner time. Heitland implied this tends to be a somewhat smaller group than the evening festivities, but everyone is welcome to join and bring something, or give a donation if they choose.

Every year a new T-shirt is designed and sold. This year, it will be printed by Blue Top Printing in Waite Park. Sunglasses and cigarette lighters designed by ePromos of St. Cloud will also be sold.

Another change this year is Beaver Island Brewing Co. will play a much larger role in the event, providing more beer and promotional details such as banners and wristbands.

The inclusion of Beaver Island is one more step in the slow expansion of what was once just a small party for a few friends.

Heitland, now a teacher at North Junior High School, was a college student 10 years ago when he and his friend and roommate, Jon Schulte, conceived of Jugfest.

“I found an old glass jug by our dumpster,” Heitland said. “It was perfectly clean, so I thought this would make a sweet change jug. I began filling it with collected change to save up for a tattoo.”

He set the jug on a chair in a corner of their living room. When friends would visit, they would see the jug and throw their spare change in it, too. But that nixed his tattoo plans.

“I thought, this is not all my money anymore, and it wouldn’t be fair to use it just on myself,” he said.

Heitland and Schulte then came up with another plan. Heiltland worked at the Local Blend at the time, and several of his friends worked at the Middy and other bars and restaurants in St. Joseph. And they worked long hours during Joetown Rocks.

“We thought, ‘Well, we all just worked our butts off; those were two crazy busy days for us. Now we’re going to have our fun, our Fourth of July experience.’ ”

They took the jug money, and bought beer and food, including hot dogs and burgers for grilling, and celebrated with a small gathering of friends in their front yard at the Wilshire Apartments on College Avenue.

They did this for the next two years or so. Friends would either periodically drop change in the jug or bring something to share. By then, it had grown such that they worried about bothering the neighbors, so they reserved Millstream Park for the event.

The fourth year was the first time they had T-shirts printed and began including live music since they had the park pavilion as a stage. By then, Jugfest was still a potluck of about 150 friends, with no specific fee.

“People would say, ‘Well, I didn’t bring anything,’ and we would say, ‘Well, just put some money in the jug for next year.’”

That’s something they still say today, Heitland said.