ALTON – The much-anticipated one-night music show extravaganza Fosterfest will return to the Woodlands Golf Course and Banquet Center for its second annual show.
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The concert will see two homegrown country/bluegrass acts The Harmans and the Glendale Riders on Saturday, August 3, 2024. Gates open at 5 p.m. with music starting around 7 p.m.
Tickets cost $15 in advance or $20 at the door. Tickets can be bought in person at the Woodlands Golf Course or online at www.fosterfestalton.com.
A beer tent, food trucks, and horse carriage rides will accompany the musical guests.
The Harmans Bluegrass band: made up of brothers Mark and John Harman, cousin Wyatt Harman, and longtime friends Corrina Rose Logston and Jeremey Stephens will take the stage first, followed by The Glendale Riders.
Corrina and Jeremy typically team in their band High Fidelity and tour the country regularly. Also making usual appearances onstage are Mark and John’s parents Mike and Stacy Harman as well as Mark and John’s children who sing songs from time to time.
Mark Harman elaborated on Fosterfest’s musical talent.
“Last year we were able to have Mo Pitney, which was a very good thing, Nashville songwriter, great country artist,” he said. “This year, we were able to lock down The Glendale Riders. So, now you’ve got some of your best hometown talent playing at one venue.”
Some great local talent, however, Harman believes and hopes that one day Fosterfest can bring in some national headline acts as the event continues to grow.
“Fosterfest, when it was first thought of, we wanted it to grow into something that we could have bigger venue names come and play. This is the ground floor, very early stages of the event,” Harman said.
“We eventually want to grow so we can have some bigger names play the event and that people from our community don’t have to drive an hour to go see someone that they’d drive to St. Louis or Springfield for,” he added.
The event is put on by the community, for the community, and despite some crazy weather in its debut, still turned out to be enjoyable and successful.
“Last year, we obviously faced a little bit of weather, but we still had a fantastic turnout and fantastic event,” Woodlands Golf Course General Manager Dan Morelli said. “We think with the new addition of The Glendale Riders this year that we’ll have another successful event and we’re looking forward to it.”
Harman joked about the weather situation from a year ago.
“We had not had rain in two weeks at the time, and it rained at 4:30 p.m., right after the stage was set up, after all the sound was set up. It didn’t just rain, but tornado sirens were going off.”
Thanks to the quick action taken by sound engineer Tracy Bodenbach with Output Unlimited, everything was moved undercover, and things went off without a hitch.
“Without him taking the sound down and moving it to the barn, no one else in his industry would have done that, but he did,” Harman said. “He’ll be doing the sound again this year.”
Harman and Morelli also wanted to once again thank last year’s sponsors Stutz Excavating, Tarrant & Harman Real Estate, American Legion Post 199 Edwardsville, Veterans Assistance Commission, Hamilton Fabrication and Steel Supply, Eclipse Carwash, Harman Auction, and Red’s Garage Doors.
Woodlands Golf Course is located at 2839 Harris Lane Alton, IL 62002. The course will soon see the completion of its brand-new driving range and its banquet room boasts an expansive, newly-renovated space for events of any kind.
Along with Fosterfest trying to grow as an event, it also puts the spotlight on the Woodlands Golf Course.
“Basically, 364 days a year, we have people drive by the golf course that might not play golf, so if they enjoy music this gives them the opportunity to see our facilities,” Morelli said. “Then they might look down the newly established driving range, or down the fairway on hole one and think golf might be something they’d like to do.”
Morelli along with Brian Curry, the course superintendent, lead the ownership group that took over the grounds in 2017 and has continued to make improvements year after year.
Fosterfest plans to do the same thing, eventually turning into a can’t-miss occasion.
“We want this to be a community event,” Harman said, “one that people look forward to every year.”
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