Issue link: http://www.insightdigital.biz/i/338735
24 | I nsIgh t • J u l y 2 0 14 w w w . i n s i g h t o n b u s i n e s s . c o m "It's just a great relationship," says Lonsway, who has worked with Willems Marketing for about a decade. "We see those guys in here all the time and they're good guys. ey think like we do, and they support the same things we do. It's just a great fit." In fact, Willems says the festival has turned down potential sponsors that did not match with the qualities the event is trying to foster – the local, organic and handcraed-ness of it. e festival has been approached by fast food and similar vendors from outside the state. "It's about economic development for the Fox Cities and for Appleton, so we've been basically letting folks know that we're not that kind of festival," Willems says. e day before the 2013 festival started, tornadoes caused $34 million of damage in Outagamie County and knocked out power – a contingency that Willems had considered early on. But the storm didn't seem to impact the event much, other than stone Cellar couldn't get its screen-printed commemorative glasses until aer the event already started. e power was out at spats, but went back on in time for a noon show, Willems says. at's not to say everything went perfectly. stone Cellar brewed a special Mile of Music Pale Ale just for the event – but unless you got there early, you didn't get to try it. "no one knew how this was going to go, and most of the bars and restaurants ran out of our product early on," Lonsway says. "at part of it was disappointing. now we know better, so we anticipate it being five times what it was last time." Underage music lovers complained there weren't enough places they could get in, but this year the festival will include more performances in public spaces and coffee houses, about 25 all-ages venues in total. Local cover bands weren't happy to be shut out of the event, but Willems says they're welcome if they showcase original music under a different name. Additionally, Willems says this year organizers have more lead time to help the venues work through some of the production and staffing issues they ran into the first year and can guide them through the process better. "at part was probably the most unfortunate – the first year it would have been awesome to be able to tell them to double or triple staff," Willems says. "We're pretty confident that we're going to have a lot of people downtown again." Mile 2 "T he thing that people are most looking forward to is just the vibe – just the way it felt," Willems says. "Because of the nature of the event, it's a pretty unique thing, so it's hard to capture that same feel with other stuff. at'll be the pressure for e goal was to create a walkable festival, he says. Willems worked for years with leaders in downtown Appleton who also were interested in "some sort of a major – what I'd call 'difference maker' – event for downtown," Willems says. separately, Willems had been managing local benefit concerts for which Chisel performed. "I learned that he was really in the music business for the right reasons," Willems says. "he was in it for the artistry, for giving back to people for people's happiness. When we realized we had that sort of stuff in common, that's when we started talking about some sort of major event." "I think we were both kind of feeling each other out," recalls Chisel, event curator and co-founder. "We're both interested in community events, so both of us kind of felt like this town needed a festival that was similar (to south by southwest), because Octoberfest is so great and people just come in droves." A 10-minute conversation turned into an hour and a half, and when Chisel finished an international music tour with norah Jones, he started reaching out to musicians he knew. Jones made an unannounced appearance during last year's event. Meanwhile, Willems approached downtown Appleton leaders with his plan. "Dave came and said, 'I have this idea. You don't have to run it, but we need you to be a partner, what do you think?'" says Jennifer stephany, executive director of Appleton Downtown Inc. "All of our jaws kind of dropped and we said, 'You know, Dave, this is like, months away.' he said, 'Yeah, I know – we've got some of this in the works already, and it'll come together, and the first year is gonna be what it's gonna be.' And the first year just blew everybody out of the water." Mile 1 "I t was exactly what I hoped year five would be," Chisel says. "ere's the type of excitement and respect for the artists I thought would take a long time to build, possibly, but people just kind of were like that from the get-go." Chisel also didn't expect the festival to attract music lovers of all ages. "I didn't necessarily know we were going to get the 65-to-85 crowd out to see a punk rock band in the middle of the daytime, but that was awesome," Chisel says. With a short time frame, Mile of Music organizers didn't have much time to round up sponsors, but many were ready to jump in. stone Cellar Brew Pub, which can't sell beer at Appleton's Octoberfest because of Budweiser's sponsorship agreement, saw a prime opportunity to get its name and product out to the public during the Mile of Music festival, says owner tom Lonsway. "We're hoping that it'll put our beer in front of everybody as the local beer and develop our reputation as such," Lonsway says. "at's our goal." During Mile of Music last year, stone Cellar Brew Pub held live music in its beer garden and hosted a hospitality room for the bands. is year, the restaurant also is setting up beer and food tents at both houdini Plaza and Jones Park and is now one of the festival's key sponsors. Cory Chisel Discography » Old Believers, 2012 » Little Bird, 2010 » Death Won't Send a Letter, 2009 » Cabin Ghosts, 2008 For more about Cory Chisel, visit www.insightonbusiness.com.