Ogden Music Festival rekindles magic during three-day weekend
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- A couple succumbs to the magic of music during the Ogden Music Festival on Saturday, Sept. 4, 2021, at Fort Buenaventura.
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- Sierra Hull and Town Mountain light up the stage Saturday night, Sept. 4, 2021, during the three-day Ogden Music Festival at Fort Buenaventura.
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- Shane Osguthorpe, of The Proper Way, visits with festival co-director Reba Nissen and R. Brandon Long of The Banyan Collective on Saturday, Sept. 4, 2021. Van Sessions parked backstage all weekend during Ogden Music Festival 2021 to catch musicians between performances to record live from the Tan Van.
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- Local acts dubbed “tweeners” took the main stage between headliners throughout the Ogden Music Festival, held Sept. 3-5, 2021, at Fort Buenaventura.
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- Mariachi Aguilas de la Esperanza performed on Sunday, Sept. 5, 2021, and paraded around the Fort with other children during Ogden Music Festival 2021 over Labor Day weekend, Sept. 3-5.
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- Plenty of events for kids were offered to keep them busy during the three-day Ogden Music Festival at Fort Buenaventura over Labor Day weekend, Sept. 3-5, 2021.
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- Rachel’s Ice Cream truck kept kids and grown-ups happy with sweet frozen treats all weekend during Ogden Music Festival 2021.
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- Dustbowl Revival performs Friday night, Sept. 3, 2021, during the Ogden Music Festival at Fort Buenaventura.
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- Ogden Music Festival 2021 was held at Fort Buenaventura over Labor Day weekend, Sept. 3-5, 2021.
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- There are no strangers at Ogden Music Festival, held Sept. 3-5, 2021. Instant “dancing friends” were made over the shared love of music.
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- Sierra Hull performs Saturday night, Sept. 4, 2021, during the Ogden Music Festival, held over Labor Day weekend.
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- Festival directors Michelle Tanner and Reba Nissen take a pause with friend Brigitte Marshall to enjoy the music at Ogden Music Festival 2021 on Friday, Sept. 3, 2021.
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- A lot of festivalgoers camp every year at Ogden Music Festival, held at Fort Buenaventura, for its beauty, community, recreational activities, and the late-night campground jam sessions.
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- Roosters Brewing Co. serves up drafts, high point cans and wine to thirsty festivalgoers during the Ogden Music Festival, which was held Sept. 3-5, 2021, at Fort Buenaventura.
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- Volunteers smile during Ogden Music Festival, held over Labor Day weekend, Sept. 3-5, 2021.
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- Fort Buenaventura was the setting for Ogden Music Festival 2021 over Labor Day weekend, Sept. 3-5, 2021.
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- Crying Uncle jammed with festival attendees on the Workshop Stage following their performance at Ogden Music Festival on Saturday, Sept. 4, 2021.
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- Lots of happy couples were spotted sharing sweet moments during Ogden Music Festival 2021 last weekend, Sept. 3-5, at Fort Buenaventura.
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- The Brothers Comatose performs Saturday, Sept. 4, 2021, during Ogden Music Festival.
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- Brothers Comatose, and festivalgoers, brought the magic on Saturday, Sept. 4, 2021, at Fort Buenaventura.
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- There were plenty of activities for kids during the Ogden Music Festival, but they also enjoyed the music.
Last weekend, Ogden Music Festival returned with everything the people love about it and more — community, music, art … play. Families and friends of all ages gathered together for three days of peaceful relaxation to celebrate the unifying love of music, surrounded by trees and smiling faces at Fort Buenaventura. It’s an experience that goes beyond award-winning fiddles, banjos, harmonies and horns — although the musical lineup alone would be enough.
It’s also the people who make the music.
Children dancing hand-in-hand, friends reuniting, couples in love, spontaneous jam sessions … the weekend had it all.
Layne and Nancy Perkins, who have come to OFOAM from the Salt Lake area since the beginning, celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary at the festival this year.
“We love the friendly people and smiling faces,” they said. “In all the years we’ve been, we’ve never seen a problem.” As of Sunday morning, Sierra Hull and Po’ Rambin’ Boys were two of the Perkins’ weekend high points.
Regular attendee Christina Miller, from Ogden, described the moment she felt that familiar OFOAM magic return. When Brothers Comatose took the stage, “the spirit came into the room,” she said. “People moved. The spirit was here!”
Brothers Comatose out of San Francisco, who were happy to return to their friends at OFOAM, had everyone dancing in the middle of the afternoon like it was a closing act of the night. The setlist included fan favorites like “Pie for Breakfast,” “Tops of the Trees” and “Morning Time.”
Sierra Hull and the Town Mountain were also standouts for Miller.
Since 1969 when he was an 18-year-old high school graduate, Alan Hockstein attended the Philadelphia Folk Festival annually, almost 50 years, until he moved to Ogden. When he discovered OFOAM, he said it was like “coming home.” It’s how he found his “music family” in Utah. Now he loves camping over the festival weekend at the Fort every year with family and friends and enjoying all of it, especially the late-night campground jam sessions.
Jam sessions also greet you at the front gate, and on the workshop stages where artists and attendees come together, and even in the Kid Zone where this year children congregated around their peers with Mariachi Aguilas De La Esperanza as they warmed up before joining them in the mariachi parade.
Hazel and Finn Dasher, ages 3 and 5, showed off their handmade instruments and other artwork, their painted faces beaming, while sitting with their mom, Jesse, who has volunteered at OFOAM the last four years. She said this was the kids’ third year. “The kids more than love it. They don’t want to leave,” she said. “We camp here, and we love it.”
Another unofficial Kid Zone was the giant dirt “sliding hill” behind where the food trucks were lined up. Kids were gathered up there all hours of the day, perched high above the main stage where bluegrass sounds and BBQ smoke wafted up to their tower in the sky.
When hunger lured them from their play, Rachel’s Ice Cream was there with cotton candy and ice cream bars, along with Lucky Slice pizza. For grown-ups, the halibut steak sandwich at Charlie’s Rolling Bistro sold out after word quickly spread about it.
Dakine Grindz, Scallywagon, and Grounds for Coffee also stayed busy and kept attendees happy.
Roosters Brewing Co. served up $5 drafts, high point cans and wine, keeping the line moving swiftly so festivalgoers never had to wait for more than a few minutes to get a cold beverage. They must have been exhausted, but their smiles never showed it.
Everyone was just happy to be there. From Dustbowl Revival’s electric performance on Friday night that included “Sonic Boom” from their 2020 album “Is It Me, Is It You” and the sweet gospel sound from the McCrary Sisters to Sierra Hull’s captivating and unforgettable Saturday night set preceded by Crying Uncle and Mile Twelve, and Sunday with The Proper Way’s beautiful Tom Waits and Rolling Stones covers, Sierra Ferrel and everything in between, another memorable Ogden Music Festival goes down in the books.
The next Ogden Music Festival is coming June 3-5, 2022.
To festival directors Michelle Tanner and Reba Nissen, the “army” of volunteers, vendors, artists and wonderful people — thank you for the magic.