The grassroots annual North Gate Music & Arts Fest takes over LSU’s North Gates this Friday, 4-11 p.m.
Now in its 12th year, the North Gate Merchants Association produces the free festival. Clarke Cadzow, owner of Highland Coffees on Chimes Street, says the event brings attention to a unique and historic neighborhood.
“It is important for us to highlight this significant piece of Baton Rouge history,” Cadzow says. “In the late 1920s, Chimes Street, which faces LSU, developed before anything else developed around here. Chimes is the neighborhood’s most historic street. It has a rich history of dining, shopping and entertainment.”
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With the fest, the North Gate Merchants Association also wants to thank customers who patronize such popular North Gate area businesses as Highland Coffees and The Chimes bar and restaurant.
North Gate Fest will feature 25 artists and craftspeople and food vendors including Bottle and Tap, Louie’s Café and The Chimes. The Abita Beer Truck will sell beverages.
Music is always a major part of the event. Six bands will perform on the festival’s Abita Main Stage. Acoustic performances are scheduled for the Raising Cane’s Singer-Songwriter Stage.
New Orleans funk band Water Seed headlines the main stage this year. The band’s fifth album, We Are Stars, reached No. 27 on Billboard magazine’s rhythm-and-blues album chart. Founded 15 years ago by drummer Lou Hill, Water Seed has appeared at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Essence Festival, Richmond Jazz Festival, Apollo Theater and Bitter End in New York and The Mint in Los Angeles.
Baton Rouge bands on the Abita Main Stage include the genre-spanning indie-rock group Particle Devotion; improvising psychedelic-fusion trio Hydra Plane; and neo-soul, jazz and hip-hop group Alabaster Stag. Performers at the Raising Cane’s Singer-Songwriter Stage include Billy Callaway, Bex Hill, Saher Khan, Clara Bryan, Christina Ocmand, Nicholas Rains and Brennan Breaux.
The North Gate Merchants Association will donate proceeds from festival to Baton Rouge community radio station WHYR-FM, 96.9, and New Orleans musician Anders Osborne’s Find a Friend program. Find A Friend helps musicians and others in the entertainment industry recover from addiction.
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North Gate Fest Abita Main Stage schedule
5 p.m.: Baton Rouge Music Studios
6 p.m.: Hydra Plane
7:15 p.m.: Particle Devotion
8:30 p.m.: Alabaster Stag
9:30 p.m.: Baton Rouge Fire Guild
9:45 p.m.: Water Seed
Find out more info about North Gate Fest here.