Cape Girardeau hasn�t seen a daylong music festival in nearly eight years, but Sept. 22, The Shipyard Music Festival at Ivers Square is set to bring back that experience with an eclectic mixture of seven nationally touring bands.

A 32-foot stage will be positioned between the Common Pleas Courthouse and Ivers Square gazebo � facing the Southeast Missourian � where bands will provide a mixture of high energy, rock �n� roll and country.

Rustmedia creative director Jeff Rawson said he�s working with Klance Unlimited, a St. Louis-based company, to construct the stage for the event.

�We have a lot of great, local music in Cape already. The fair is incredible and does great things for the city,� Rawson said. �We have Tunes at Twilight and all those great community events. We were just going to add to that. ...�

Rawson, the event coordinator, said the goal was to create a stage and venue �that doesn�t exist right now.�

The venue will extend from the park, across North Lorimier Street and into the Southeast Missourian rear parking lots, Rawson explained.

The idea behind the festival stemmed from Rawson not having a lot of opportunities to attend music festivals as a Midwestern young boy who grew up in Dexter, Missouri, so he was determined to make it happen one day in Cape Girardeau.

�When I moved back to Cape, I thought, �Man, it would be great to have that destination event for Cape,�� Rawson said. �And as a family man myself, I wanted it to be something that was family friendly.�

Outside of the events already existing in Cape Girardeau, Rawson said he wanted to construct something else centered �around the music, just around that communal experience,� with an endgame incentive of bringing people together.

The name �Shipyard� originated from two sources, Rawson said.

�One was the obvious connection to the Mississippi (River). We wanted to tie in the historical significance of our unique geography to the venue. More importantly, we dig what shipyards represent,� Rawson said. �Broken vessels are built or repaired there; fragments are bound together and then sent back out to service. That�s what we want this festival to accomplish. To bring together individuals from around our communities � from different backgrounds � unite them through food and song and then send them out into the world a little closer than when they arrived.�

Rawson and his team members are passionate not only about this event, �but what it could do for the community,� he said.

�I�m a big believer in proximity, and if we can get our neighbors close together, we learn more about each other and we can build incredible things together,� Rawson said.

He said he believes Southeast Missouri to be in a �really interesting time right now,� but regardless of the current political landscapes, he said people are still coming together.

Rawson said the seven acts would each be allowed a stage time of 45 minutes to an hour to perform during the all-day festival.

�Once we have everything tied down with the bands and with the production, we�ll release exactly when each band will be playing,� he said.

Rawson said he�s excited about partnering with the seven bands for this year�s festival and hopes for more with an increase in the genres in future years.

�They�re coming from all over the county; from Austin, Nashville, Wisconsin,� Rawson said.

General admission tickets for Shipyard Music Festival are $30 and VIP tickets are also available, which include preferred parking, early entry, a hand-printed gig poster from Firecracker Press and access to the VIP areas.

More event information and tickets can be found at www.shipyardfest.com.

Shipyard Music Festival band lineup

Submitted Jamestown Revival

• Jamestown Revival

Headlining the show, Jamestown Revival spent a lot of time in Los Angeles, Rawson said, and is now recording in Colorado for a new album. The band members label themselves as a �back-porch folk rock� group, with an Americana-leaning sound.

Vinyl TheatreSubmitted

• Vinyl Theatre

A trio out of Milwaukee, Vinyl Theatre brings a �pop indie� vibe to the festival, with �high energy, all over the stage,� Rawson said, incorporating �a lot of heavy drums and some synth.�

A Thousand HorsesSubmitted

• A Thousand Horses

A Thousand Horses is a �country/rock band,� Rawson said. The band labels itself as a �fresh fusion of classic sounds,� comparable to a �hybrid of Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Allman Brothers, Black Crowes and �Exile on Main Street�-era Rolling Stones, wrapped up in a modern-country context.�

Greeting CommitteeSubmitted

• Greeting Committee

The four-piece band, national-touring Greeting Committee � originally from Kansas City, Missouri, � features a female lead singer and a couple of members who are still in high school, according to Rawson.

*repeat repeatSubmitted

• *repeat repeat

�One of the bands I�m most excited about is *repeat repeat out of Nashville,� Rawson said. �A very interesting sound I don�t think Cape has heard much. �Their look is interesting, their story is interesting,� he said. The husband and wife duo blends 1960s pop with what they refer to as �Warholian garage rock.�

Elliot RootSubmitted

• Elliot Root

Another interesting Nashville act featured at the festival with great vocals, Rawson said, is Elliot Root, �that I think you�re going to be hearing lot of soon.�

Elliot Root has toured with Zac Brown, X Ambassadors, NEEDTOBREATHE and Moon Taxi.

Ryan CornSubmitted

• Ryan Corn

Opening for the show is Cape Girardeau native and �feel-good singer/songwriter� Ryan Corn, Rawson said. Corn labels himself as being �bright and breezy at times and musically edgy at others.�

jhartwig@semissourian.com

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