A crowd gets ready for a concert at at the Chippewa Valley Music Festival site in this 2011 file photo.
FILE PHOTO
Twice every summer, former farmland in rural Cadott becomes the temporary home for a population similar to a city.
When Mike Asher, Lyle Goettl, Duane Crank and Ron Hager thought up and started Country Fest in June 1987, no one was sure it was going to work.
The lineup for the new music festival included Lee Greenwood, Gary Morris, Tanya Tucker, the Forester Sisters and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.
Each year since the lineup got bigger names and more people turned out. Some of the festgoers see a day of concerts, while others opt to camp on the festival grounds and take in every musical act for the four-day run.
Year after year, many of the same people return to the festival grounds to enjoy the latest music acts, to people-watch and to catch up with other folks they haven’t seen in the preceding year.
Rock Fest was added in 1994 with a lineup that included Cheap Trick and REO Speedwagon. It has continued to grow each year, and draws for the most part a different audience than Country Fest.
Mike Asher’s son, Wade Asher, is the Chippewa Valley Music Festivals’ general manager. He’s worked at the festivals since the beginning, selling programs when he was just 9 years old.
Icons of the Chippewa Valley
This is part of a continuing series in the Herald on "Icons of the Chippewa Valley." The series focuses on the people, places and things that shape our lives.
The series will continue daily in the Herald until Sept. 29.
