Organizers plan first Lafayette music festival

LAFAYETTE — Boulder County music fans will soon have a new opportunity to enjoy live performances spread across a handful of venues on a single fall day. 

Rock For The People, a local 501(c)(3) nonprofit group, is organizing the first Lafayette Music Fest on Oct. 8.

The participating venues are: Nissi’s Entertainment Venue, The Arts HUB, Muse Performance Space, Tier Two Live at Confluence Garage and The End Lafayette.

The Lafayette live-music scene “is special,” Tier Two Live owner and festival co-organizer Dave Heinrich told BizWest. “It’s small [compared to nearby communities such as Denver, Boulder and Fort Collins], but actually bigger than a lot of people think it is.”

In addition to the handful of dedicated music venues in town, “you’ve got coffeeshops, breweries, distilleries and quite a few other places” that regularly host live music, he said. 

“A big part of this [festival] is trying to bring attention to what we have out here,” Heinrich said. “Not to mention, it’s just going to be a good time with all of these bands coming together for a day to play.”

Festival organizers chose October for the event so as not to compete with the litany of concerts held around the region during the summer. 

The Oct. 8 date also comes directly on the heels of the end of Lafayette’s weekly Art Night Out event series, which runs from May through September.

The Lafayette Music Festival “is almost like an extension of [Art Night Out] and will be a close-out for all of our summertime live music,” Heinrich said.

The festival headliner will be announced in August.

Artists interested in performing can find more information at www.lafayettemusicfest.com.

Organizers are also seeking sponsors, whose support will help pay performers. 

“It’s not just about exposure,” Heinrich said. “We want to be able to pay even the small artists to do what they love to do.”