This summer the local music festival MidFest made it’s way back onto the scene after a two year hiatus due to COVID. The festival was made possible by many, but particularly the lead sponsor Finns Neighborhood Pub who donated a substantial amount to the festival and hosted several bands in their first year being involved.
“We were gonna do this in 2020 before COVID,” said Finns owner Tanya Ram. “This is the first year it’s been back since 2019. Since we promote live music down here, we thought it would be good to sponsor.”
On Thursday night Finns hosted performances by a band they know well and host frequently, The Box Turtles, as well as The Sounds of Many and The Manhattan Mob.
In addition to the bands that Finns hosted, their sponsorship allowed for several other shows downtown and elsewhere. The pub was one of the first downtown locations in Manhattan to implement live music, and has promoted the music scene for years, hosting bands every Thursday. Also, as Finns proved there was a market for live music in town, restaurants like Tallgrass TapHouse, AJ’s Pizza, and Flight Crew followed suit in more recent years. TapHouse and Flight Crew even hosted MidFest events on Thursday of MidFest, preceding Finns. The bar hosts karaoke once a week on Tuesdays as well as live performances one Saturday a month.
“I like to sing,” said Ram. “So my first thing was bring karaoke into the bar, then we started live music.”
Ram said she was excited to get to attend MidFest herself and experience aggieville more. Part of the bar’s motivation behind sponsoring was to get the name of the downtown bar out into aggieville.
Aggieville was a bustling spot for MidFest 2022 as it hosted bands like Delicious Friction, Lizard Brain Trust, Part Time Hero, The Lomos and more. Other major venue hosts at MidFest were The Hat, who hosted Frogpond and headliner Ultimate Fakebook, each of which put on electric performances. Auntie Maes also hosted several bands like Field Day Jitters, RedKate, and the V.I.P. Ultimate Fakebook show. Arts in the Park with the Parks and Rec department of Manhattan also played a huge role in the festival hosting bands like Laney Jones and the Spirits, and Manhattan Dance Community.
MidFest provided a place for people from the community and beyond to come together and enjoy art, dance, and music. And between Finns and Aggieville and the roof of TapHouse, the town was able to do just that.
