Justin Vernon is starting his very own music festival. According to The Current, the man behind Bon Iver has teamed up with the people behind Boston Calling to launch the Eaux Claire Music and Arts Festival in Vernon's hometown of Eau Claire, Wisconsin next summer. A permit for the event passed through its final round of approvals and is officially slated to take place on July 17 and 18, 2015.
Crashline Productions is setting up the logistics of the two-day event, which will take place at the Foster Farm - home of the popular Country Jam festival - located about 90 minutes from Minneapolis in a vast, remote wooded area.
No lineup has been announced yet, though organizers anticipate up to 25,000 festivalgoers will attend each day. The set-up includes two main outdoor stages, one 6,000-person capacity tented stage, as well as on-site camping. Vernon will curate the lineup of music and art installations.
The event is expected to bring in eight or nine million dollars of tourism revenue to the town, according to Bob McCoy, president and CEO of the Eau Claire Chamber of Commerce.
"It's a very major economic impact," McCoy said. "Looking at what Justin wants to do, and having somebody like that, you can look around for a long time trying to find somebody that will bring that kind of venue and that kind of magnitude into the community, and it falls in your lap, it's really kind of cool and he's a pretty awesome guy and he's made some investments in the community."
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