Gates open at 4 p.m. Friday in Hill Wheatley Plaza for the eighth annual Hot Water Hills Music and Arts Festival, and organizers said they are sure it will be the best installment yet.
According to Sonny Kay, executive director of Low Key Arts, presenters of the festival, Hot Water Hills began as a more Americana and roots-based festival but has evolved over the years.
"There hasn't really been a concerted effort to guide it one direction or another," Kay said. "It's a little bit natural the way it's evolved. We certainly have that in mind but we've also allowed it to be kind of eclectic and, quite frankly, a lot of what we book is just relationships we already have with agents, who's on the road at that time, that sort of thing.
"We wound up with a festival this year that's quite a bit more varied, I think, than in the past. I wouldn't really say it's focused on roots or Americana, or anything. More than anything we like to say it's kind of our love letter to Hot Springs and our way of celebrating Hot Springs. Certainly, it's our most visible and accessible production, event, I guess."
The lineup of 12 bands will feature several groups familiar with the Hot Springs music scene as well as some who have never been to Arkansas. Headlining Friday will be returning duo Larkin Poe, which Kay said took the 2018 Valley of the Vapors Music Festival by storm in March.
"They're definitely a bluesy rock 'n' roll band, but with kind of nods to old school rhythm and blues," he said of the Nashville-based sister duo. "They headlined the last night of our Valley of the Vapors which was the first time they had been through here back in March. They absolutely stole not only their night, but they were by far the biggest draw of the festival. They were thrilled to be here and thrilled to come back."
New to Hot Springs and Hot Water Hills is an Israeli electronic duo, Lola Marsh, which organizers are excited to feature, Kay said.
"Basically, we were in touch with their agent about another group who couldn't come and he said he had this group who's going to be on tour and between Austin and Memphis there's a night off to check them out," he said. "We did and they've got like 80,000 followers on Facebook and we'd never heard of them before. They were excited about filling an otherwise night off on this bright lights tour so they're kind of rolling up their sleeves for a night coming here which is awesome."
Simultaneously with the performances will be several workshops and demonstrations for all ages, Kay said.
"There are 20-plus vendors that are made up of mostly local crafts people and artisans," he said. "This year we're introducing some different kids activities than we have in the past. We have the local charity, Cutwell 4 Kids is going to be putting up basically a big cube that kids paint. There's also going to be a bunch of kids' workshops and demos, Hula-Hoop making and that sort of thing. We have some art cars that are traveling here from Texas and Oklahoma which are basically customized, fantastical vehicles. One of those is painted like a chalkboard so kids will be able to draw all over it, which we're kind of excited about.
"There's a mobile gallery in a truck trailer. Local artist Bethannie Newsom, who's been a part of Low Key Arts for a long time, it's basically a showcase of her work which we show each year. We also have this year an auction of refurbished thrift shop art which is something that we've done in the past that was actually apparently really popular. We're doing it again this year and the response has been pretty amazing, actually."
Kay said while VOV is strategically planned to coincide with South By Southwest in Austin, Texas, Hot Water Hills is a festival he hopes to see become a more celebrated event by locals.
"We're definitely trying to make it more visible, more of a spectacle, and something for me personally it would be really amazing to see people in town who don't care about Low Key Arts and don't get excited about what we're doing get excited about it," he said.
Local on 10/04/2018