The music scene in Northern Nevada is full of talented artists and the Sagebrush Sounds Music Festival is bringing 16 of them to Winnemucca on Sept. 23 at the Havens Ranch located west of town at 8005 McNinch Rd.
Every dollar earned will go to benefit the Frontier Community Action Agency (FCAA) to help connect members of the community with resources in times of socioeconomic difficulty and raise awareness about the resources available in the community.
The event is family friendly and will go from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. and have food and retail vendors available all day while a blend of country, rock and grass roots music artists perform. Tickets are available for presale at mucctownsound.com for $20 and at the gates of the event for $25 on the day of. A list of vendors are available on Mucctown Sound social media.
“It’s nice to see people come here so that we can, you know, showcase their talent for all the local communities around…I also think the event is beneficial to the community in that the FCAA doesn’t get enough credit for what they do. You know, it’s only a few ladies working there and they really help out a lot with rehousing and helping people find jobs and helping people get off the streets…All that stuff was really important,” said Event Coordinator and Lead Guitarist /Vocalist for High Desert Habit Eric Mercado.
The FCAA has been a very active organization in the community, often working quietly in the background to help connect members of the community that are in need with access to food, application assistance, grief support, family resources, housing, tax preparation, avoiding homelessness and numerous other resources.
The FCAA is funded through grants, so a lot of the work they do must fall into certain categories outlined in often inflexible grant guidelines, but a lot of the time people need assistance in ways that cannot be categorized in the guidelines. The proceeds from this event go towards filling the gaps and allowing the FCAA to be flexible in how they help the community, according to FCAA Case Manager, Lily Avalos.
Avalos told the Great Basin Sun last year that “Even though we are connected to many social services types of programs, we definitely want to give a hand-up, not a hand-out.”
Mercado said that festival goers will receive wristbands this year instead of physical tickets and people can come and go from the event all day, even getting to spend the day with little ones and then being able to take them home in the evening to enjoy the drink vendors that will also be at the event, which he said was really appreciated at last year’s event.
Last year’s event also had more than 350 attendees, well over Mucctown Sound’s goal of 250 attendees and they are hoping to double last year’s numbers, according to Mercado.
“We hope we can continue this event for many, many years and that way it’ll always benefit the community,” he said.