North Gate Music and Arts Festival will ring in its 10th annual celebration this Friday.
From 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. restaurants, businesses and artists will take over West Chimes Street with their booths as a way to give back to the community. Live bands and over 20 artists will show off their work while patrons wander. Artists and businesses will set up booths along the sidewalks and road.
“It’s really about the neighborhood … about the North Gates and keeping the North Gates relevant as entertainment area for LSU staff, students and faculty,” event coordinator Beth Zagurski said.
Artists and bands are carefully selected based on originality and relevance in Baton Rouge, Zagurski said. It is not a task she and co-workers take lightly. Zagurski said she thinks about the North Gate Fest year round, but intensive planning starts around July.
“On the music side, we’re not about inviting a band that is doing all cover songs,” Zagurski said. “It’s about original music, and the same thing on art.”
Bands on this year’s lineup include: TOAST, Anna&Haley, Ship of Fools, The Easy and Captain Green.
“We are super excited,” Ship of Fools’ Raudol Palacios said. “It’s one of the biggest shows that we will play.”
As all four band members are students of LSU, they spend a fair amount of time at the LSU School of Music. They also play at different venues around Baton Rouge such as Chelsea’s Cafe and The Spanish Moon, he said.
“It’s like playing at home for us,” Palacios said.
Captain Green is also looking forward to share its music with the community, Captain Green lead guitarist Grant Hudson said.
“It’s just great to bring the LSU community out,” Hudson said. “They [kind of] get stuck in their own little [world] like, ‘Oh, I’m in school. I can only go as far as my dorm let’s me walk from.’ So it’s fun to go to them and become a part of their community.”
Captain Green extends its horizons to New Orleans and beyond. The band’s goal for next year is to get more people engaged with its music and make every show count, Hudson said.
Artists this year include Emily Annabelle Koro, Charles Mouton, Emily Sullivan, Madeline Ellis, Daniel Garber and Dena Landry.
Dena Landry’s 7-year-old business, Classy Yet Sassy, consists of custom-painted wine glasses that are also dishwasher safe. While she is a third-year artist at the North Gate Fest, she still finds it satisfying.
“I love the atmosphere of North Gate Fest,” Landry said. “It’s fun [and] everyone’s is very laid back.”
There will be food, drinks, art, music and the balloon man who can make almost anything out of balloons.
“I think the most rewarding part is probably the end of the night, when that last band is playing,” Zagurski said. “Everything has gone pretty smoothly. Everybody is having a great time by then. I just get to look around and actually enjoy this culmination of the previous months of work.”