Phase One of the festival will take place on six stages beginning at 5 p.m. at Cornerstone Center for the Arts.
At 10 p.m., artists will start performing at Be Here Now, The Acoustic Room, The Ballroom and The Fickle Peach. All 10 p.m. shows require attendees to be at least 21 and have a picture I.D.
Music venues around Muncie will fill up with bands from a multitude of genres at the Muncie MusicFest Oct. 10.
After being canceled last year due to sponsorship issues, the festival got two grants to put it on this year. The goal for the festival is to showcase as many Muncie and local bands as possible, co-director Graham Watson said, who is also a Ball State alum.
"[The show] better supports our community by highlighting local talent and giving lesser-known musicians access to bigger and maybe less familiar audiences," Watson said.
Before MusicFest, the Downtown Development Project used to fund End of Summer Jam Fest, which brought national bands to Muncie. When that money ran out, Watson proposed gathering the talent from Muncie and surrounding communities together for a better show that would cost less.
"The formula has always been really simple—cast a really wide net, find all the bands that are available on that date, book them with emphasis on Muncie bands or bands with a strong connection to Muncie and try to make the whole festival as 'all-ages' and affordable as possible," he said.
The event is free to all attendees through partnerships with community organizations.
A new feature of this year's festival is the use of Cornerstone Center for the Art's third floor, which has been unused for 40 years, Watson said.
"So in addition to Muncie MusicFest being an opportunity to explore music, it's a great excuse to go for free and explore the three floors of Cornerstone and all the distinctive rooms that we're gonna be packing bands into," Watson said.
For Scott Limbered, this will be the first time him and his band, Webcam Teenz, perform at MusicFest, despite being active in Muncie for 20 years.
"Muncie Music Fest is super cool because it's an all-ages, free showcase of especially newer Muncie bands," Limbered said. "There are seven stages, and you can hear all genres of music by walking around from stage to stage."
Andrew Hesik is serving as co-coordinator for the festival and will be performing twice in his first year being involved. During Phase One he will perform as his solo act, Mephysto, and during Phase Two he will perform with his seven-member band, Dr. Boldylocks & the Twitter All-Stars, at Be Here Now.
Hesik was friends with Watson before the festival, but didn't know he ran it until Watson invited him to a board meeting.
"I thought it was funny," Hesik said. "I didn't even realize that the people organizing it were in my social circle. After that one invite, I was all over it and wanted to get involved."
Hesik said he's excited for the event both as a performer and organizer. He has done demo performances of his solo act to groups of around 20 people and has worked on large events by himself.
"With just two other people at my side, we've managed to make something so magnanimous and awesome that I can't wait to see it," Hesik said. "As a performer I'm excited to see the apparatus I'm working on done in a larger setting."
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