Queen of the Prairie, yes there's a reason we call it that.
When working on marketing strategies we were recently told to not bother explaining why we called our festival Queen of the Prairie, and why would we? There are lots of festivals with quirky fun names that are just that, quirky and fun and some odd, they could take the name and have that same festival anywhere, and besides who cares about history? But when we first thought of having a festival for Guthrie it definitely had to fit Guthrie. Hence the name Queen of the Prairie, which is what Guthrie was called in the late 1800's early 1900's because the city was so beautiful, it definitely ruled over the sparsely populated Oklahoma territory. We still think that royal atmosphere persists today.
Our city has hosted it's annual International Bluegrass Festival, which existed long before we arrived, Mumford and Son's Gentlemen of the Road Tour and as a business we have started and with the help of our community we've grown Make Guthrie Weird block parties (with great success I might add). So yes, we have so far chosen a genre of music that we believe encompasses Oklahoma and Guthrie, in particular, Americana, Folk, Roots, all that speaks to Oklahoma, Oklahomans and their histories. So we are calling this new festival Queen of the Prairie Festival. This genre is as diverse as the people who settled Guthrie.
We also realize there are a lot of festivals held around the country and in Oklahoma and to distinguish our festival we would have to go for something different. The genre was one step, but to take it further we decided that our concept had to be very exclusive from top to bottom. We started with art work, our queen had be reminiscent of not only the Queen of the Prairie, but she also gives a nod to the casinos and saloons that were the first businesses up and thriving in Guthrie. So we asked respected and acclaimed tattoo artist, Shane Swift, who masters old school Americana style tattooing to style our logo. The result was beautiful, the two queens on the art represented the original native queens and the new incoming pioneer queens. We and everyone else appears to love this piece.
Our city has hosted it's annual International Bluegrass Festival, which existed long before we arrived, Mumford and Son's Gentlemen of the Road Tour and as a business we have started and with the help of our community we've grown Make Guthrie Weird block parties (with great success I might add). So yes, we have so far chosen a genre of music that we believe encompasses Oklahoma and Guthrie, in particular, Americana, Folk, Roots, all that speaks to Oklahoma, Oklahomans and their histories. So we are calling this new festival Queen of the Prairie Festival. This genre is as diverse as the people who settled Guthrie.
We also realize there are a lot of festivals held around the country and in Oklahoma and to distinguish our festival we would have to go for something different. The genre was one step, but to take it further we decided that our concept had to be very exclusive from top to bottom. We started with art work, our queen had be reminiscent of not only the Queen of the Prairie, but she also gives a nod to the casinos and saloons that were the first businesses up and thriving in Guthrie. So we asked respected and acclaimed tattoo artist, Shane Swift, who masters old school Americana style tattooing to style our logo. The result was beautiful, the two queens on the art represented the original native queens and the new incoming pioneer queens. We and everyone else appears to love this piece.
Stage two of our process was getting just the right lineup and believe me when I tell you, we did! It is perfect, packed top to bottom with the best artists of the genre that is out there. Another thing we have done differently than most festivals is every single artist we have contracted has the potential to be the headliner. We are asked time and again, who is the headliner, and truthfully it's hard to say. You could ask the artists themselves who is the headliner and they too would agree that any of them could! They are all that good! They've opened for the same bands, headlined for the same bands, and opened and headlined for each other. Instead of spending bushels of money on one headliner, that you can catch at a lot of different venues, we've opted to get ALL of the next BIG names! Most festivals offer the big name a few mid level names and lots of filler, but we have absolutely no filler for this event. There will not be an act where you say I'm going to get something to eat and take a nap, because you will not want to miss one show.
Being well acquainted with the saying, "there is nothing new under the sun" we aren't claiming we are the only festival designed this way, but it's how we think we can bring the most talent together and the music and festival fan get the most bang for their buck. Did you know that this will average out to less than $6.50 an act? There is NO better deal out there, bar none, not for this quality!
We are sure there may be acts that you haven't heard of yet and we will begin blogging about each entertainer, a taste of their music, and a little bit about them. So stay tuned. We are getting down to the nitty gritty of days remaining to purchase your tickets. We will be capping attendance at 5000 enough to have plenty of viewing and camping room and enjoy one of the most elite and curated festival experiences this summer anywhere, a no stress, no heat, pleasant, music lovers experience.
So stay tuned to learn about our artists and hear a sampling of their sweet tunes.
Stage 3 will be for you to get your tickets and join us in making Oklahoma history again. There are surprises in store that we can't wait to reveal. One of our artists may have some of the deepest Oklahoma roots and music genes ever. So we will look forward to seeing you here May 1, 2. It may not be as exciting as the original land run , but in our lifetime, it's pretty darned exciting!
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