Sacred Harvest Festival: Fun at the Poe Road Music Sanctuary
Sacred Harvest Music Festival is an intimate, home grown festival featuring a ton of great bands and vendors from the Midwest. Tucked away in the corn fields of Grand Rapids, Ohio the festival indeed feels "sacred" and exclusive. Held this past weekend (Sept. 7-8) dozens of music fans came out despite the weather to support the 20+ bands playing the bill. Patrons were encouraged to park and camp overnight at the property, a space now called the Poe Road Music Sanctuary.
The Poe Road Music Sanctuary is a beautiful place. The festival grounds is surrounded by corn and trees which really gives the festival an intimate vibe. The ground also serves as a natural amphitheater. The ground in front of the stages is at a gradual uphill slope culminating in a tree line that helps to seal in the sound. There was plenty of room for tents for campers and ample room for parking. Poe Music Sanctuary featured two stages for the festival. The main stage was portable and rented from a friend and set up on risers in the center of the grounds. The second stage is a new permanent feature off to the side that will serve as a stage for the Sanctuary for years to come.
The 2018 Sacred Harvest Festival is the second one of its name, but the Poe Road Music Sanctuary is no stranger to music events. The venue recently hosted a festival this past March in addition to several "Wayne Fests" over the years. Right now they are planting the seeds for what they hope to grow into regular outdoor concerts and festivals for musicians and fans in North West Ohio. "There isn't really a ton of stuff like this in the region. We're hoping to bring this type of show and experience to the 419." explained Alex Hastedt, a band member of Waxtastic and one of the organizers for the festival. The events are all about community and having a fun and safe place to enjoy music. Fans are encouraged to bring along the kids for a safe way to expose them to live music in a festival setting. Most of the bands are well acquainted with one another and everything was DIY in the most professional manner. A lot of people worked hard and came together to make Sacred Harvest happen. FROGtown GlassROOTs, a community arts, entertainment, and event planning company from Toledo played a big role in helping everything come together. More than twenty bands, around a dozen vendor tents, and a food truck all contributed to making Sacred Harvest a fun and unique experience. It is hard to beat the value of Sacred Harvest as all of these things come for the low price of $40 for a two day ticket. Sacred Harvest Mark III (Sept. 6+7 2019) is already in the works so check out the Facebook link to stay updated, you won't want to miss out! Don't miss my picture gallery from the festival below!
Sacred Harvest 3 - https://www.facebook.com/events/482826532214590/
FROGtown GlassROOTS -https://www.facebook.com/FROGtownGlassRooTs/
All Photos by Connor Mancini