This past summer’s Fayetteville Roots Festival was an awesome showcase of musical talent, great people and delicious food. The local Northwest Arkansas community came out in droves to support the legendary and up and coming acts who graced the 10 festival stages over the five-day festival.
Performances by the legendary Mavis Staples and Booker T. Jones of Booker T. and the M. G.’s set off the first night of the festival with a bang, followed by a ton of talent including Mary Gauthier, Lucinda Williams, and the War & Treaty. The acts on both the main stage and late-night stages were equally as fun and entertaining.
Although the festival’s headlining act, the Turnpike Troubadours were not able to perform because of a medical emergency—the band’s lead singer Evan Felker was advised not to play due to pain associated with the inability to pass a kidney stone—the show went on without a hitch.
A friend of the festival and Former Turnpike Troubadour member John Fullbright stepped in to perform his blues-tinged folk songs in the band’s stead. Fullbright performed a phenomenal set of his own tunes before being joined on stage by Earl Cate, Joe Purdy, Kalyn Fay, Jacob Tovar, and Paul Benjamin. The All-Star jam session concluded with all of the musicians playing a rendition of the Rolling Stones “Jumping Jack Flash” to the audience’s delight.
Festival attendees also had the chance to experience a plethora of culinary stages, chef’s dinner and master classes, featuring food from a talented array of chefs and of course our best tasting Mountain Valley Spring Water.
One of the coolest things about Fayetteville Roots Festival is their goal to be as waste-free as possible. They partnered with sustainability company Food Loops to reach this goal. The Arkansas based company took all the food waste and compostable items collected through the duration of the festival with the purpose of returning it to the soil. We are proud to have partnered with a festival that values sustainability as much as Mountain Valley does.
We had a wonderful time as an acting sponsor for the festival. It is never a dull moment when we get to commune with our people. If you’ve never experienced the Ozarks, we suggest that you join us next year at the Fayetteville Roots Festival for a truly one-of-a-kind experience.
