Portage County Legal News

New music festival coming to Columbus this summer

BRANDON KLEIN
Special to the Legal News
Published: March 14, 2019

Central Ohio and Cleveland business officials are collaborating to bring a new music festival to Columbus this summer.

The Elevation Group, which produces the LaureLive music festival in Cleveland, will launch a new music festival called WonderBus from Aug. 17 to Aug. 18.

The new festival will include food, artisan vendors and other activities, though the location of the event has not been announced yet.

"We cannot think of a better way for Ohio residents to bookend their summer. LaureLive in early June and WonderBus in late August," said Elevation chief operating officer and WonderBus executive producer Steve Lindecke in a statement.

Cliff Chenfeld, a local co-founder and former owner of leading indie record label, and Rick Milenthal, the owner of The Shipyard, a marketing agency, have partnered with The Elevation Group on the new festival along with Cleveland-based Michelle Wesley, a founder of Musice Elevates, a nonprofit organization that promotes music education.

"When Cliff and Rick came to us with the idea of staging a LaureLive-style festival in Columbus to close the summer, it was an easy decision for us," Lindecke said.

The LaureLive music festival launched in Cleveland in 2016 and has featured Grammy award winners and big independent artists from a variety of genres.

Artists include Gary Clark, Jr., Brandi Carlile, Apollo's Fire and Stephen Marley, Foster The People, Fitz & The Tantrums, O.A.R., Daya, Lauv, Elle King, Young The Giant, Andy Grammer, Cold War Kids, Michael Franti & Spearhead, The Head and The Heart and Grace Potter.

Last year's event had about 20,000 attendees.

The WonderBus lineup is fully booked and will be announced in early April. The event's location, community sponsors and ticket information will be released at the same time.

For more information go to www.wonderbusfest.com.

WonderBus will become the latest addition to other musical festivals Columbus hosts including the Sonic Temple Art & Music Festival (a re-brand of Rock on The Range) at MAPFRE Stadium in May, the Buckeye Country SuperFest at Ohio Stadium in June and the Breakaway Music Festival in August.

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