Hugh Forrest

by Hugh Forrest, Austin Reggae Festival co-Promoter

Over the 19 years that I have worked with the event, I have enjoyed lots of amazing memories from the Austin Reggae Festival. But the one that probably sticks out most in my mind most occurred in 2000, when Bruce Springsteen was rumored to have made been part of the crowd enjoying the rasta at Auditorium Shores.

I learned of Springsteen’s attendance because a friend of mine who was working the front gate late in the afternoon. This friend reported that a person matching his description (dark hair, blue jeans, not too tall) paid entry fees to the event at about 5:00 pm that day. This person wore a baseball cap low over his eyes in a manner that suggested he didn’t want to draw too much attention to himself.

Bruce was performing at the Erwin Center on the Monday evening immediately after the event — so it makes sense that he was in town on Sunday. To this end, he and the rest of the E-Street Band were most likely staying at the Four Seasons Hotel, which would have made it a quick walk for him to check out the music and merriment just across the river at the Austin Reggae Festival.

Moreover, Springsteen has always been a huge supporter of local food collection services. He traditionally makes it a point to talk about the importance of feeding the hungry during his concerts — and he invites volunteers from these local agencies to collect donations from patrons as they are leaving the show. Finally, if you have ever visited the Capital Area Food Bank offices on South Congress, you can’t miss the signed “Born in the USA” poster from the Boss in the lobby.

Still . . . I will never be completely sure if that was really Bruce at the Austin Reggae Festival in 2000 — or just someone else who looked a lot like him. And, this lack of certainty is a good thing. The bottom line is that it doesn’t really matter who it was, because everyone attending the event is a hero and a celebrity and a rock star. Indeed, the great thing about this event is that it unites so many different kinds of people at one place at one time for one great cause. Young and old, black and white yuppies and hippies — the Austin Reggae Festival proves again and again that amazing things can be accomplished when so many people come together in peace and harmony to help the less fortunate in our society.

Join us April 20-22 at Auditorium Shores and you can be the Bruce Springsteen of the 2012 Austin Reggae Festival!

It’s Reggae time -  a beautiful time of the year, when the “one love” spirit makes its home at Auditorium Shores in Austin and radiates throughout Central Texas in the form of nourishing food for the needy.  Through the actions of tens thousands of festival goers these past 18 years, millions of meals have been provided.  Last year alone, Austin Reggae Festival raised more than $207,000 which helped us provide more than 650,000 meals to hungry families.

Join us Friday through Sunday from 11 a.m. through 10 p.m. where this year’s festival promises to be better than ever, including some new activities at our Food Bank booth.  Here’s the latest news.

Tickets: Save by purchasing tickets online before midnight Thursday evening, April 19, or purchase tickets at Planet K locations in Austin, San Marcos and San Antonio before the end of day on Thursday.  Advance tickets are $35 for a three-day pass, with single tickets available for $15 each day. Tent permits are SOLD OUT for Friday and Saturday.  Only single-day tickets will be sold at the gate for $20 per person, per day.  Save on Sunday, where tickets are $20 for two people.  Children under 12 are free.

Great Acts – Two Stages: This year’s bands come from all over the world, including Jamaica, Bermuda, and South Africa, as well as bands from the Texas area.   Headliners include New Kingston, Dubtronic Kru, Tidal Waves, Collie Buddz. If you want to see Cas Haley, Grupo Fantasma and Rootz Undeground, then make sure you purchase a three-day pass, or take advantage of Sunday’s “$20 for two tickets” deal . Gates open at 11 a.m. and the music begins at 1p.m. on Friday and noon on Saturday & Sunday.

Take Action: Make the most of your time at the festival by visiting the Food Bank booth.  Learn about the impact of your donation and how we can turn every $1 donated into $5 worth of nutritious food.  Participate in our postcard campaign to help protect food stamp funds from being slashed in the federal budget.

Free T-shirts:   We still need volunteers to help during evening shifts on Saturday and Sunday.  Sign up online to volunteer and you’ll get a free t-shirt at the end of your shift. We’ll also have a limited number of last year’s festival t-shirts available at our booth for a minimum $10 donation.  Visit us early because they won’t last!

Your comfort is our priority:  Personal umbrellas, lawn chairs, blankets, one sealed water bottle per-person, tents (with permit) and other items are all permitted so you can relax and enjoy the festival all day long.  Another benefit of purchasing tickets in advance is that you don’t have to wait in any long lines; there’s an express lane just for you.  To help foster an atmosphere of peace, acceptance and tolerance, there’s a designated area for tents on the west side of the park and for smokers near the center of the park. As usual, there are plenty food vendors, restrooms and an ATM for your convenience.

Thank you for making Austin Reggae Festival the #1 fundraiser for CAFB.  A special thank you also goes to the organizers of Austin Reggae Festival, Austin Chronicle, Planet K and our volunteers.

The 19^th annual Austin Reggae Festival kicks off on the world’s unofficial counterculture holiday 4/20, bringing together visitors and locals to celebrate the Reggae spirit and enjoy great music, food, and people watching.   Each year, the three-day Austin Reggae Festival at Auditorium Shores in Austin attracts more than 50,000 participants, primarily teens and young adults.  Through donations and ticket sales, the 2011 festival raised $207,484 for the Food Bank.

This festival is also a favorite for our army of 500 staff and volunteers.  Not just because it is the largest fundraiser for the Food Bank, but also because we get to meet and thank the tens of thousands of supporters who help end hunger.   We still need adult  volunteers.  Sign up online to get scheduled.

Every year, the festival organizers and the Food Bank look for new ways to make your three days fun, safe and meaningful.

Sunday Special:  Buy one ticket, and two people get in for free.  Headliners on Sunday include Rootz Underground, Cas Haley and Groupo Fantasmo.

Headliners feature local favorites and international superstars:  This year’s bands include Collie Buddz, New Kingston, Tidal Waves, Dubtonic Kru, and more.  Learn more about the bands.

Buy early and save: Advance 3-day passes are $35 and single-day tickets are $15. Tent permits are $10 per day.   On festival day, tickets are $20 on Friday and Saturday and two for $20 on Sunday. Children 12 and under are free. Purchase tickets online.

You’re welcome to bring a sealed container of water, backpacks, drums, folding chairs, but please leave dogs, coolers, food and beverages at home.  Get the complete list of what to bring.

We’ll have some other special activities in store for you at our Food Bank tent.   Stay tuned for further details.

Austin Reggae Festival

Auditorium Shores, Austin, TX

Friday, April 20:
1:00PM – Box Office Open
3:00PM – Gates Open

Saturday, April 21 & Sunday, April 22:
9:00AM – Box Office Open
11:00AM – Gates Open

Show concludes at 10:00 pm on each night of the event.

See you soon.

Nothing rings more true to Bob Marley’s words than the amazing turnout at Austin Reggae Festival 2011. Festival-goers and volunteers helped raise 600,000 meals for hungry Central Texans.

Reggae fans have proved, once again, that they really know how to spread the love.

Special thanks to our sponsors: 93.3 KGSR, Austin Chronicle, Planet K, Flamingo Cantina and ZiegenBock.

We’ll see you next year!

Zach Henault was randomly selected as one of the winners of our free 3-day pass to Austin Reggae Festival.  When he found out that he won, he shared  his story with us and why he’s so excited to be part of the festival once again.

Since coming to Austin 5 years ago, I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing a number of amazing events around town, but none really compares to one of my favorites, the annual Austin Reggae Festival. I have a hard time deciding what my favorite part of the festival is – Is it the amazing music? How about the wonderful arts and crafts with vendors who come from all over the United States? And don’t forget about the amazing food. As usual, Austin doesn’t fail to disappoint. Some of the most amazing artists, musicians, and chefs gather for this amazing three-day festival.

Although I’ve gone every year I’ve lived in Austin, last year I had the opportunity to volunteer with one of my good friends and we immediately jumped on the chance to be part of such a fun event! We were offered the chance to walk around selling raffle tickets on the grounds of Auditorium Shores and I must say I’ve never quite had an adventure like that. We met so many different kinds of people all united by a general laid back feeling that you come to expect living in a place as amazing as Austin. I remember talking with people from all over the United States who had ventured here for this special event. We sold a record number of raffle tickets that year. The staff of the Food Bank were pretty impressed, but I must say it was really easy. People at the festival were just so generous. Almost everyone we asked bought at least one because everyone realized what an important job the Food Bank does for Central Texans in need. What really surprised me was how generous people were that didn’t want to buy raffle tickets. I remember people telling us they didn’t have any cash but instead offering us free food, water, or just a seat. Needless to say, I was pretty impressed with the crowd.

When I saw a sweepstakes contest this year for a free three-day pass, I knew I simply had to enter. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to be part of such an amazing event again this year! It is awe inspiring to see an event put on that not only celebrates some of the most uplifting music, but that brings together so many different kinds of people for such a great cause. In fact, even though I have the opportunity to go to the festival for free this year I know I will be donating food, money, and whatever else I can to help the cause. I would encourage anyone who hasn’t been to the festival to check out this special event. It is certainly a sight to behold and you’ll be supporting a great cause!

Be sure to enter for your chance to win by texting AUSTINREGGAE to 30644.  Our last drawing is tomorrow, April 13.  Good luck!

It’s spring in Austin, and time for the 18th annual Austin Reggae Festival – the year’s biggest fundraiser benefiting the Food Bank. Get ready for another rockin’ Rasta weekend (Friday, April 15 through Sunday, April 17) filled with music, food, arts & crafts, spectacular scenes and excellent people watching along the banks of Auditorium Shores.  We’ve got an electrifying lineup this year, including artists Israel Vibration & the Roots Radics Band, Grimy Styles, Jah Sun, and Cinco Doce.  For a complete schedule of artists performing at this year’s festival, click here.

Event tickets are available now, and a portion of each ticket sold goes to feed our hungry Central Texas neighbors. Advance Tickets online are $12.50 per day, or $15 at the gate, $35 for a three-day pass, and $10 for a tent permit (you MUST have tent permit to bring your tent into the park). Purchase event tickets online.  For more information, visit CAFB’s Austin Reggae Festival home page.

When you text “AustinReggae” to 30644, you’ll be entered to win one of three 3-day passes to the festival (a $35 value) that we’ll be giving away today, April 6 and April 13. You’ll also receive the latest news, access to special giveaways at the festival, and more.  Standard text messaging rates apply.

And, of course, you can’t have Reggae Fest without our Rockin’ Reggae Raffle. You’ll have a chance to win great prize packages including certificates for some of Austin’s grooviest grub, coolest museums, exciting excursions, and much more.  Packages are valued at more than $600 each and two of the packages include round trip tickets on Southwest Airlines!  Purchase raffle tickets on our website or at the festival for as little as $1 or $5 for 6. Feel good knowing that every dollar raised through the raffle helps nourish hungry Central Texans. For a complete list of raffle packages, click here.

Thank you to our sponsors: 93.3 KGSR, Austin Chronicle, Planet K, Flamingo Cantina and ZiegenBock.

We’re excited to announce that this year’s Austin Reggae Festival is right around the corner! Come check out the fun from Friday, April 15 through Sunday, April 17 at Auditorium Shores, where Reggae enthusiasts from all over join together for a Texas-sized celebration. There will be world music, tasty food, tons of arts & crafts, and excellent people watching.  They don’t allow dogs, but definitely bring your tents (with the purchase of a permit), hula hoops, drums and lawn chairs to make the most of this love- and peace-filled event.

Tickets and volunteering
Tickets are $35 for a three-day pass; $12.50 per day for an advance day pass; and $15 per day at the gate. Want to get in for free? We need 450 volunteers (18 years and older) to help make this event a success. Volunteers get into the festival for free after their scheduled shift. This is a great opportunity for your workplace group, club or organization to have fun and help out, but feel free to come on your own, too.  Schedule your volunteer shift online. For more information, call our volunteer hotline at 512-684-2140.

Raffle and donations
We’ll also have our Rockin’ Reggae Raffle with fabulous prize packages.  Tickets are $1 each or six for $5. If you have any donations for the raffle, gifts are tax deductible and a great way to contribute. For more information, email Molly Robbins, community events manager, at mrobbins@austinfoodbank.org.

Not only is this an incredible way to spend your weekend, but proceeds from all ticket and raffle sales directly benefit the Food Bank. In 2010, this event helped the CAFB provide more than 600,000 meals to hungry Central Texans. Visit our Austin Reggae Festival microsite for all the details, and we’ll keep you updated about the festival in the coming months.

Our “Turn Hungry Holidays into Happy Holidays” campaign sponsored by FOX 7 and SolarWinds, was a great success. Your generous gifts of more than $500,000 provide nourishment and hope for our neighbors in need. This campaign was very special for us; we raised more funds than last year, and our sponsors put their own spin on the campaign to engage their employees and help lead the technology community in ending hunger.

SolarWinds issued a challenge to technology companies in Central Texas to beat the $13,000 in cash and food donations raised by their employees during their two-week drive.

For Microsoft, them’s fightin’ words and they stepped up to the challenge. It was great to have two competitors in the business world use that energy and enthusiasm to nourish the hungry in our community.

“The Microsoft team in Austin was proud to participate in this year’s Food Drive Challenge. Thank you to SolarWinds for inviting us. We had a lot of fun raising the donations and hope to do it again next year,” said Gary Geddes from Microsoft.

Team Microsoft

Congratulations to Microsoft for beating SolarWinds in the Geeks who Give Challenge.  Enjoy those bragging rights.

Josh Stephens, also known as “Head Geek” at SolarWinds, shares a wrap up of the campaign on his blog.

A little while back I wrote a blog post entitled “Hunger Sucks” that we used to help drive awareness to the Capital Area Food Bank’s (CAFB) “Turn Hungry Holidays into Happy Holidays” food and fundraising campaign. It was a call to arms to fellow geeks out there to step up and help fight hunger here in Austin and within the greater metropolitan area. You stepped up big time. Here are some of the results.

You see, for the past three years SolarWinds has been supporting the CAFB through holiday food and fundraising drives. This year, we wanted to take it a step farther by underwriting the area-wide campaign and challenging other Austin technology companies to help as well. With the help of other technologists in the area and fellow tech company Microsoft, we raised a total of over $17,000 AND 2,300 pounds of food AND there were over 225 participants!!! As my buddy Justin Endres here at SolarWinds would say – OUTSTANDING!!!

I’ve gotta tell you, I was impressed by the way that everyone stepped up. CAFB has been great to work with; we’re looking forward to our next event with them sometime soon. They’ve asked us to volunteer at the Austin Reggae Festival in April. I just might be too redneck for reggae, but heck, to help fight hunger, maybe even I could channel my inner Rastafarian. Sing it with me… “Don’t worry about a thing, every little thing is gonna be alright.”

Thanks again for your contributions and for those of you that didn’t get a chance to help – there’s still time. You can go online to CAFB now and donate directly to help end hunger.

Flame on…

Josh

Thank you, Josh, for being our Hunger Hero. We had a lot of fun working with you and your team this past year, and plan on having even more fun at the Austin Reggae Festival. And, just for you, we WILL flame on.

Today begins a weekend of peace, love, and reggae music in Austin.

We’ve learned a lot from last year’s festival and have some tips for you for maximum festival enjoyment.

1. Text AustinReggae to 30644 512-981-6954. We’re using text messaging to tell you about last-minute changes at the festival, and to keep our volunteers informed. We’ll also have some fun text-based games. The more you play with us, the more chances you’ll have to win some cool gear!
2. Nature happens. Bring your sunscreen and stay hydrated. There’s a chance of rain, so you may want to bring some outerwear, just in case.
3. We recommend you get there one hour before the gates open to score a choice location, especially if you plan to hang out for a while.
4. Definitely plan to hang out for a while. Besides having some awesome headlining acts, the festival is a great place to shop, eat, and enjoy the weather.  Bring your tent (max size is 10 x10), a blanket and your lawn chairs. You can bring a cooler with ice, but leave the beverages at home (sealed water bottles are allowed).
5. We have some special helpful tips for volunteers too.
6. Go green. Pick up your trash. Car pool, bike, walk, skip to the festival. There’s a free shuttle near Austin Music Hall to the site. For more details on how to park without ripping your dreads out, and other info about the festival, visit austinreggaefest.com
7. Set up your iPod at home with a Reggae mix. Even though dogs aren’t allowed at the event, it doesn’t mean Fido can’t enjoy the rhythms while you’re gone.
8. Hoops aren’t just for basketballs and ears.  Bring your hula hoop. You’ll be glad you did.
9. Bring cash or take advantage of the ATMs available on-site. You’ll need cash to shop and eat and to enter our Rockin’ Reggae Raffle for your chance to win great prize packages valued up to $600 each! Tickets are $1 each or six tickets for $5.
10. Look for the express lane. If you purchased tickets in advance online or through Planet K locations, you can enter through the express lane.

Do you have any tips to share?

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The 17th annual Austin Reggae Festival is bigger and better than ever!  A third day has been added to the festival for even more reggae fun for you, your friends and family. (But unfortunately not for your dog. Fluffy will have to enjoy Reggae Fest at home.) And, when you volunteer, you get to enter the festival for free after your shift. Remember to recruit 600 of your friends to volunteer with you because that’s how many volunteers we’ll need to make this event a success.

Win free passes! When you text “AustinReggae” to 30644, you’ll be entered to win one of five 1-day passes to the festival (a $30 value!) that we’ll be giving away each week starting March 17, St. Patrick’s Day. You’ll also receive the latest news, access to special giveaways at the festival and volunteer info.  Standard text messaging rates apply.

Good luck, and we’ll be back to announce the winners next week.