Madison West alum and pop-rocker Gabe Burdulis.
Two years ago, one of Madison’s most renowned block-parties-turned-community-festivals almost packed up its music stages and beer tents for good. Today, with the cooperation of multiple neighborhood organizations, AtwoodFest is thriving; 18 bands are scheduled to perform this weekend on two stages, and an expanded KidsFest Stage will provide diverse entertainment targeting 3- to 16-year-olds.
“It’s really a party in the street,” says Steve Sperling, general manager of the Barrymore Theatre on Atwood Avenue (where the festival takes place) and one of three community entities now managing the event. “That’s why this year’s theme is ‘Dancin’ in the Street.’”
AtwoodFest, originally called Atwood Summerfest, began in 1982 as a fundraiser for the nonprofit Goodman Community Center. After the 2013 event, community center officials decided to drop the festival and focus on more mission-driven activities.
Enter the Schenk-Atwood-Starkweather-Yahara Neighborhood Association, the Wil-Mar Neighborhood Center and the Barrymore Theatre, which didn’t want to see a great thing end.
“We felt like it was really important for the community,” Sperling says about the festival. “But if we were going to keep it going, we had to make it bigger.”
That included increasing the emphasis on music by expanding the stage areas, enhancing the audio equipment and booking a greater diversity of acts. The Alchemy Cafe Stage, featuring, among others, Nashville-based power-blues trio Simo and Madison West alum pop-rocker Gabe Burdulis, will be on the corner of Atwood Avenue and Winnebago Street. The Harmony Stage, in the parking lot of Monty’s Blue Plate Diner, will include Madison’s 11-piece disco dynamo VO5 (Isthmus arts and culture editor Catherine Capellaro is a member of this group) and a reunion of Madison reggae legend Tony Brown with the 608 Riddim Section.
The new management team also changed the event’s name last year. “A brilliant move,” says Rökker, the one-name-only publisher of Maximum Ink and the man in charge of booking bands. “The previous ‘Summerfest’ part of the name was always confusing, and no one ever heard the word ‘Atwood.’”
Other highlights will include a raffle with a grand prize of dinner for two at 25 east-side restaurants, a Little Free Library community art project and Convergence — a parade anyone can join.
“I feel like AtwoodFest has always been part of Madison’s culture,” says Meghan Blake-Horst, organizer of the KidsFest stage, which will be in the United Way of Dane County’s parking lot. She estimates that overall attendance last year came close to a record-setting 15,000. “People in the community were passionate about making sure it stayed.”
