Why Suwannee Rising Matters
A little later than planned, Paul Levine and Purple Hat Productions announced that there would, in fact, be an April jam festival at the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Festival in Live Oak, Florida. There had been hints for months that something would be planned for the first weekend in April, and finally, we discovered that it was true.
BEAR CREEK
Some context. The park’s biggest festival, Suwannee Hulaween, had crowded out the much revered Bear Creek Music and Arts Festival from its previous November slot. Bear Creek disappeared from the calendar after the outstanding 2014 edition, the eighth one. (And its companion festival, AURA, ceased to exist after 2016.)
Anyone who wears a Bear Creek shirt, as I do regularly (I have six of them), will confirm this occurrence: people come up to me all the time to say [1] I really miss Bear Creek, and/or [2] I wish Bear Creek would return. Truer words have never been spoken for those of us who attended even one of those funk tests curated by Paul Levine.
WANEE
The Wanee Music Festival, birthed by The Allman Brothers Band, debuted in 2005 and was a powerhouse up through 2014, the year The Allman Brothers would disband. For four more years Wanee drew the faithful to the park, even as it became apparent that most effort was being routed to Wanee North, the name given to The Peach Festival, also an ABB baby. The Peach, which has been held annually on Montage Mountain in Scranton, Pennsylvania, since 2012, slowly seemed to erode the strength of Wanee. It also didn’t help that, for several years, Wanee went head-to-head with SweetWater 420 Festival in Atlanta.
However, all that deterred not one bit the love for Wanee and the park by the Sisters and Brothers of the Suwannee, as we have chosen to call ourselves, and I say we, because I am definitely one of the thousands who would have returned to Live Oak just to be together again at Wanee time, music or no music. I mean, we’ve got our own guv’na and everything! Waneetopia ain’t a place; it’s a state of mind.
So there are two distinct groups (and a Venn diagram would show a large overlap) of music festival lovers beyond excited to see Suwannee Rising Music Festival come to fruition to replace the void in our hearts created by the demise of Bear Creek and Wanee (and AURA, too). Our hearts are full once again. You might surmise that from the lightning quickness with which early-bird tickets sold out.
Also, it’s unlikely to be 29° in April. Why do you think we dubbed it BRRR Creek?
I’m not a betting man, but I hope I am right in predicting that this is, to quote Captain Renault in Casablanca, “the start of a beautiful friendship.” (Really, it’s just a new phase in that relationship.) Suwannee Rising will certain expand with a full year to plan the 2020 edition, and all of us Bear Creek fans and the Sisters and Brothers of the Suwannee will be there.
“You can take that to the bank.” (with thanks to Baretta)
SUWANNEE RISING
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