B-Sides: Festivals bringing music to downtown on same weekend

By Mark Bennett
The Tribune-Star

TERRE HAUTE August 06, 2008 09:53 pm

— Next month, downtown Terre Haute will feature a mix of blues and polka music. But don’t expect to hear “Hoochie Coochie Man” on accordion.
Because of a calendar quirk, two of the city’s most popular festivals will happen on the same weekend, a couple blocks apart. The Oktoberfest will run Thursday, Sept. 11 to Saturday, Sept. 13 at the Clabber Girl Festival Marketplace at Ninth and Cherry streets. Meanwhile, the Blues at the Crossroads Festival will fill the fabled intersection of Seventh Street and Wabash Avenue on Sept. 12 and 13.
One is a 36-year tradition of tasty, homemade German food, polka bands and beer beneath a tent. The other offers national-caliber blues artists and an assortment of food and beverages from vendors and restaurants in the open air of the Crossroads of America site.
Despite understandable concerns that they’ll be competing for crowds, the music of each will be overheard by the other and traffic will be congested, organizers of both events hope to be pleasantly surprised.
“I just hope that everybody who’s going to be traveling through downtown Terre Haute isn’t inconvenienced by all the activity,” said Connie Wrin, one of the co-founders of the blues festival.
During a two-year stretch, the Oktoberfest coincided with the Terre Haute Air Fair at Hulman International Airport. The German Oberlandler Club, which has staged the Oktoberfest every fall since 1973, worried they would lose festival-goers to the Air Fair. “We were concerned about that, but it seemed to help us. Our fears were unfounded,” said Al Brown, the Oberlandler Club president. “So maybe this will bring more people downtown.”
Of course, the Air Fair wasn’t a mere two blocks away.
“They’re so close together, and we’re just a little bunch of guys just trying to get by, and it’s going to be tough,” Brown added. “And I always go to the blues festival, and I won’t be able to go, since I’ll be at the Oktoberfest. I like the blues fest.”
The convergence of the two events was unintentional, and yet irreversible by the time the overlap was discovered.
The Oberlandlers traditionally schedule their Oktoberfest — Vigo County’s oldest continuous ethnic festival, according to research by Terre Haute historical columnist Dorothy Jerse — two weekends after the Little Italy Festival in Clinton, which, as usual, is Labor Day Weekend, from Friday, Aug. 29 to Monday, Sept. 1. Since its inception in 2001, the Blues at the Crossroads has always been scheduled for the second full weekend of September.
This year, that puts both on the same weekend.
The Oberlandler Club books its polka bands and venue a year in advance, Brown said, and couldn’t reschedule by the time the conflict was discovered. The blues fest locks in its acts early each January, Wrin said.
In past years, the simultaneous festivals wouldn’t have been so worrisome. The Oktoberfest location has varied, from the Wabash Valley Fairgrounds to the Armory on Maple Avenue, and Fourth and Cherry streets. In 2007, it moved to the Clabber Girl facility, which has been a big hit with the Oberlandlers and the festival-goers, Brown said.
The new, six-story Terre Haute House Hilton Garden Inn now stands between the blues fest stage and the Oktoberfest site, as well as a few other downtown buildings. The blues fest employs a strong, concert-caliber sound system, Wrin explained, for a lineup that includes six bands on the night of Friday, Sept. 12, and another 12 from noon till after midnight on Saturday, Sept. 13.
Still, because the Oberlandlers use a tent, Brown figures that enclosure will allow Oktoberfest fans to hear only the polka music, and the blues fest crowd to hear only the blues artists. “I just can’t imagine that would be a problem,” he said.
It is possible to sample both slices of local culture. The Blues at the Crossroads is a music lover’s bargain, with a $10 admission for adults and free for kids 16 and under. This year’s roster features, among many others, Crossroads first-timers Guy Forsyth of Austin, Texas, and the Ragbirds of Michigan — as well as Midwestern blues favorites and three local acts. After a taste of the blues, a short walk to the Clabber Girl Marketplace will lead to performances by polka bands Eddie Korosa Jr. and His Boys from Summit, Ill., and Linda Lee and the Goldenaires from Frankenmuth, Mich. As usual, admission to the Oktoberfest is free.
By practicing moderation, folks looking for great music, food and drink can find room for both.
“Maybe we’ll find there’s a terrific synergy between them,” said Andrew Conner, executive director of Downtown Terre Haute Inc.
The logistics have all parties, though, wishing the dates didn’t conflict, from the blocked off streets for the blues fest to the availability of picnic tables.
“If they decide they want to avoid this next year, this is the time to [discuss] that,” Conner said. “I think [this year] was accidental. Perhaps we’ll find that this is even better, or perhaps we’ll find that it’s best they’re not on the same weekend.”
Either way, people won’t be able to complain about a lack of entertainment on that weekend.
“I’m not sure it’s a negative thing to have more than one fun event going on at the same time,” Conner said. “I think it’s the sign of a thriving community.”
With the right spirit, maybe one of the opening blues bands could do a version of “Beer Barrel Polka.” It might be a nice ice-breaker.

Mark Bennett can be reached at mark.bennett@tribstar.com or (812) 231-4377.