The Second Annual Sagebrush Sounds Music Festival that took place on Sept. 23 inspired more and more of the community to come out and support the Frontier Community Action Agency (FCAA), a local non-profit that works to connect members of the community with resources in times of socioeconomic difficulty and raises awareness about the resources available in the community.
The festival sold over 350 tickets, according to FCAA Case Manager Lily Avalos, with all of the proceeds going to the FCAA’s Sunrise Fund that allows the FCAA to fill gaps created by rigid guidelines that come along with the majority of the grants that fund the aid they offer in the community, doubling last year’s turnout with three times as many pre-sale tickets sold before the event.
With any type of funds or aid associated with the COVID pandemic coming to halt in September, the FCAA will be out certain monies that have previously been a big help to the community, so the festival helps in so many different ways.
Fourteen artists played at the all-day event and numerous vendors from the community sold food, drinks, and other goods, drawing in not only Humboldt County and Winnemucca residents, but also those from places as far away as Vegas, according to Event Coordinator and Lead Guitarist /Vocalist for High Desert Habit Eric Mercado.
As one of the artists, Mercado explained that the cross-section of people there and all of the different ways that people were either artists and vendors or attendees was truly amazing.
According to Avalos, the event had 78 people that volunteered their time to the event as well.
Avalos explained that the festival is an opportunity for the community to learn more about the FCAA because “If you don’t need us you don’t really know about us,” and that the FCAA helps a wide range of people that may be encountering socioeconomic difficulty for just a short time and have fallen into a situation where they just need a hand up, not a hand out.
“We’re all just one hiccup away from a situation like this,” said Avalos.
The festival also included other ways in which the event could give back to the community like allowing attendance for those under 13 years old with a non-perishable food item instead of a ticket, which allowed large families or single parents an easy way to be able to affordably bring their families to the event and donations to the Winnemucca Food Bank.
The FCAA is also responsible for other great community projects, like Project Santa, which distributed 2,318 total gifts with the help of the community that helped allow families to celebrate the holidays while still maintaining their utilities and other aspects of life that can be difficult when trying to buy presents or have big family meals.
Other assistance from the FCAA includes homelessness prevention, food commodities distribution, and numerous other services that often arise in emergency situations associated with medical care or other hard times that are often not covered in the guidelines for grant funding.
“We’re going to empower you to be proactive in your situation. We can’t do it all and we can’t fix it for you, but we’re here to help you. We’re here to show you the path but you still have to take steps,” said Avalos.
With only seven individuals that run the offices in Humboldt, Pershing and Lander County, three of which are volunteers through AmeriCorps, they can have 300 or more case interactions a month each and are always looking to hire or for volunteers.
In Humboldt County alone, the FCAA has assisted 852 participants through their food commodities services on the third Friday of every month from July of 2022 to June of 2023 and had 5,084 interactions with participants.
“We really help by removing barriers to stability,” said Avalos.
Mercado and Avalos both said that there is already excitement for next year’s festivals and that artists, vendors, and other sponsors have already reached out to participate.
“We’re very excited for next year and we’ve already had a ton of artists reach out just in the last 30 days that want to come next year,” said Mercado.