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A Lesson: ASU festival has a triple purpose
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Published: July 3, 2008
BOONE
Jimmy Hunt and Nick Barringer, long-time friends and Appalachian State University students, are organizing a music festival that they hope will build their fledgling entertainment business, promote Boone as a national-caliber music town and raise awareness about renewable energy.
Their company, Black Paw Entertainment, is organizing Music on the Mountain, to be held Aug. 23 at the old High Country Fairgrounds.
The festival will feature bluegrass, soul and funky acoustic music. Scheduled artists include Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Perpetual Groove and Acoustic Syndicate.
Hunt, Barringer and a small group of mainly ASU students are doing several tasks this summer, from raising sponsorship money and selling tickets, to writing media proposals and cleaning up the fairgrounds.
Sixty percent of the festival's proceeds will go to N.C. Green Power, ASU's Energy Center and the High Country Conservancy, a nonprofit land trust. One of the festival's stages will be powered by solar energy.
"The music itself is great, but … we were really fueled to try to do something to help the environment," Hunt said. "That's really the inspiration and motivation behind everything."
Hunt, a 23-year-old marketing and management major, and Barringer, a 22-year-old finance and banking major, had attended high school together in Raleigh. When Hunt got the music-festival idea last year and realized that he needed help, he reached out to his friend.
They also turned for help to ASU's Center for Entrepreneurship in the Walker College of Business. Hunt said that it would have taken him a long time on his own to figure out things such as how to form a limited-liability company.
"We encouraged him to become an LLC and to formulate a business plan and look at the target market and make sure it was realistic," said Julia Rowland, the assistant director of the center.
The center was established in 2006 and is designed to support student entrepreneurs, but it also offers programs and help for members of the faculty and staff and community members.
The center has helped start 10 student businesses.
The center connected Hunt and Barringer with student Jay Kramer, a 21-year-old from Charlotte, who had already started High Country Booking.
Kramer is promoting the local bands and regional talent for the festival.
Hunt and Barringer also sought out John Felty, 44, who has organized some large festivals and is the owner of Looking Glass Entertainment.
He has served as a mentor to them and is production manager for Music on the Mountain.
Hunt will get some class credits for the work, and he is staying in Boone this summer to nail down details for the festival.
"I can't afford to leave -- there's so much work to do," he said. "It seems like something new pops up every minute."
A handful of other students are helping.
Rowland said she enjoys working with people who are turning their dreams into reality.
"It's great to see these young students with such high hopes and dreams graduate with businesses," she said. "I am so proud and so impressed with what they have done."
■ Monte Mitchell can be reached in Wilkesboro at 336-667-5691 or at mmitchell@wsjournal.com.
■ For more information about Music on the Mountain, visit
www.musiconthemountain.net.
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