It’s everyone’s favorite time of the year: summer music festival season. Thousands of music enthusiasts of all genres and backgrounds flocked over to the Basilica of Saint Mary grounds to indulge in a unique music festival experience, known as the Basilica Block Party. This year’s Basilica Block Party was extra special since the music festival was celebrating its 25th anniversary in operation. Numerous sponsors and a star-studded lineup were present to remind everyone why this festival is and continues to be one of the top Twin Cities music events of the season. Sponsored by the local Cities 97 radio and Bud Light beer, this year’s music festival featured acts such as Kacey Musgraves, Semisonic, Dawes, The Jayhawks, Jason Mraz, and Minnesota’s local artist, Kiss the Tiger.
Home Business Magazine had the privilege of attending the festival Friday night to see the musical acts and engage in all the onsite activations the festival had going on. The festival featured three stages sponsored by the Star Tribune Twin Cities newspaper, PreferredOne (the affordable health insurance for individuals, families and groups) and Great Clips for local and well-known acts to perform on. Friday night kicked off with an energetic and New Orleans inspired jazzy performance by Minneapolis’s own band, the McNasty Brass Band on the Star Tribune stage. Ruston Kelly, fellow country singer from South Carolina and husband of Kacey Musgraves, also helped us kick off the festival with a memorable and country-inspired performance.
Following those performances, the crowd had the opportunity to cruise over to the PreferredOne Stage to get a dose of nostalgia with performances by Twin Cities’ beloved bands The Jayhawks and Semisonic. The crowd had a blast reliving their favorite Hollywood movie moments with their most famous song, “Closing Time.” Another fan favorite that graced the Star Tribune stage was Minnesota’s very own rock n’ roll band Kiss the Tiger. Kiss the Tiger lead singer Meghan Kreidler blew the crowd away with passionate ballads from their new album, “Let me Bleed.”
Lastly, festival-goers flocked to the Great Clips stage right around golden hour (pun-intended) for the highly anticipated performance by Grammy award-winning country artist Kacey Musgraves. Kacey entranced the crowd with a dazzling visual display of lights and colors whilst singing her hit songs from her album Golden Hour. The crowd swayed in unity to hit songs like “Butterflies”, “Golden Hour’, “High Horse”, “Slow Burn”, and more.
Whilst walking throughout the festival grounds, we had the opportunity to interact with all the varying brand sponsors of the 2019 Basilica Block Party. Sponsors and vendors of the festival marketed their brands and products by providing a unique experience with interactive onsite activations for the festival-goers. Sponsors of this event included well known local and influential brands such as PreferredOne, Star Tribune, the Hilton Minneapolis, Great Clips, HIWAY Federal Credit Union, North Memorial Health, Tap Minneapolis, Great Lakes Coca Cola, 2 Gingers Irish Whiskey, University of Minnesota Physicians, Geico LOCAL OFFICE, McKinney Roe Irish Pub, Social Indoor, Coca-Cola, Minnesota United FC, and FUJIFILM Instax that provided their own inimitable activations and opportunities to participate and promote their products.
We sampled food and desserts from local vendors such as the Fabled Rooster, ChopStix, Vesuvio’s, DoughDoughMN and McKinney Roe. Elysian Brewing, 2 Gingers, and Chloe wines made sure to keep us hydrated with a variety of unique and refreshing ice cold beverages of our choosing.
We had the opportunity to chat with the Kitchen Supervisor of locally known Irish Pub, Mckinney Roe, about their Irish cuisine and their collaboration with Basilica Block Party.
Home Business Magazine: “How long has this company been catering to Basilica Block Party?”
McKinney Roe Kitchen Supervisor: “I can speak that we have been catering to Basilica Block Party for at least 10 years and years passed, it had been in the name of Jake O’ Connors Public House, Lola’s Lake House. This is the second year McKinney Roe has been here and that there is the brick and mortar is down by U.S Bank Stadium and again it’s part of the Irish Born Hospitality Family and yeah we’re happy to be here.”
Home Business Magazine: “What does your restaurant specialize in?”
McKinney Roe Kitchen Supervisor: “We’re an Irish Pub so as I said Irish born hospitality. Our proprietor, he was born and raised in Belfast Northern Ireland. Therefore there are deep roots to the to the Irish connection; it’s just really what we know best. Our Corn Beef is an original recipe, our Fish and Chip batter is an original recipe and we’ve been highly regarded in the Irish fair.”
Notable sponsor Star Tribune had its own booth set up by its Star Tribune Stage and featured one of Minneapolis’s local artists Kiss the Tiger’s merchandise for attendees to purchase. We got the chance to talk to lead singer, Meghan Kreidler, about her first experience with Basilica Block Party and what they have coming up next with their music.
Home Business Magazine: “So you’re with the band Kiss The Tiger. How long have you guys been around?”
Meghan Kreidler: “We have been around for about two and a half years.”
Home Business Magazine: “Awesome, is this your first time at Basilica Block Party?”
Meghan Kreidler: “Yes, this is our first time playing and it was really fun. We knew that there was going to be a big draw just with all of the other acts. To be in between the two big stages with the mostly national acts, it’s a good place to be because you get a lot that traffic.”
Home Business Magazine: “Wonderful, are you going to any other festivals this year?”
Meghan Kreidler: “We are playing a lot of local block parties and stuff. We just got back from doing a tour at the beginning of May around mostly the east coast and the south. So now we’re back home and kind of focusing on doing local stuff in the summer just because there’s like such a short window in Minnesota where it’s nice out and outdoor stuff is happening.”
Home Business Magazine: “For sure. *gesturing to the table* So tell me, is this your new album?”
Meghan Kreidler: “This actually is our new album and we released it in February. It’s called Let Me Bleed and it’s a full-length album, and we’re planning on going back in the studio and recording new stuff in the fall.”
There were various activations going on around the festival fairgrounds for festival-goers to immerse themselves in. These included a silent disco hosted by HIWAY Federal Credit Union, an interactive booth by Minnesota United FC, a picture opportunity with a giant Bud Light inflatable can, a station to refill your water presented by Minneapolis Tap, an inflatable popup basketball hoop throwing contest hosted by the Minnesota Timberwolves, complimentary Mall of America giveaways presented by IHeart Radio, and various photo moment opportunities hosted by North Memorial and also by a collaboration between Cities 97.1 and Simple Booth and various others.
An exciting and new activation to Basilica this year was a pop-up camper presented by FUJIFILM Instax, where they showcased their Fujifilm Instax cameras that utilize film packs. We had the opportunity to check out the pop-up and chat with one of the West Coast Market Managers about the product and how they are going about raising brand awareness at Basilica Block Party.
Home Business Magazine: “This company, FUJIFILM, is this your first year here?”
West Coast Market Managers: “Yes it is.”
Home Business Magazine: “Awesome, what is the purpose behind catering to music festivals?”
West Coast Market Managers: “We want people to come out and see the instax in action? We want people to want to go outside and then they go to Target and they can pick one up in the store. A lot of these are so people can see Instax and what it’s about. They are also good for parties and weddings, something that you can instantly take away. Something to put on the fridge.”
Home Business Magazine: “Absolutely. Are you guys going to any other festivals this year?”
West Coast Market Managers: “Yes, we’re out for the rest of the year.”
Home Business Magazine: “Okay. Where else are you going?”
West Coast Market Managers: “That’s a great question.”
We also had the opportunity to engage with another onsite interactive 1v1 gaming activation put on by the Basilica Young Adults, an organization that is affiliated with The Basilica of Saint Mary itself. We had the chance to talk to one of the group event organizers about the organization and some of the events they host.
Home Business Magazine: “So Basilica Young Adults, tell me more about that.”
Guest: “The Basilica Young Adults is the young adult group for the Basilica parish. It’s a group of basically young adults in their 20s and 30s. And we do all sorts things, we do spiritual activities, social activities, community activities, that kind of thing, service activities. So next week, we’ll have a happy hour. We have a softball team, broom ball team, we do Bible studies, the whole bit for young adults.”
Home Business Magazine: “Awesome, where do you guys want to be in five years?”
Guest: “We want to keep being here at the Basilica inviting young adults in to consider us.”
Home Business Magazine: “How long has this organization been around?”
Guest: “Well the Basilica has been here for 150 years. The Basilica Young Adults have been around for I’d say 30 to 40 years.”
Home Business Magazine: “Okay, awesome. Have you seen a lot of success come out of it?”
Guest: “I think we have a good group of young adults within the parish. For sure.”
Make sure to check out their events page and see when their next social happy hour or event is to learn more and get involved!
The Basilica Block Party 2019 served as the ultimate marketing powerhouse that helped sponsors and companies increase brand awareness and establish themselves within the Twin Cities market. It truly is the perfect environment to market your company and reach a broad and diverse melting pot of individuals. If you are interested in sponsoring an event in the upcoming 2020 music festival summer season, I would certainly recommend the Basilica Block Party.
