Treefort Music Fest
Alefort serves beers from local, regional, and international breweries, Artfort showcases performance art and interactive exhibits, and Hackfort hosts technology companies and conferences.
[7] Although the idea of a multi-day, multi-venue music festival has been bruited since the mid-'80s,[8] Treefort itself had its roots in tragedy when producer Lori Shandro's husband died in a private plane crash in 2009.
)[24] There were eight stages extant (including free all-ages venues), and ten hours of music scheduled daily on Treefort's initial Saturday and Sunday; an estimated and unexpected 3,000 people attended each of the last full three days[25] of the festival's inaugural run,[26] and some forty national media outlets provided reportage.
[31] Months before any bands had even been announced for the Second Annual Treefort Music Fest, scheduled for March 21–24, 2013,[32] the initial batch of early-bird priced wristbands had sold out in October 2012 in 17 minutes.
[47] Sold-out shows, as with Foxygen on opening night, led to people seeing, and being surprised by, bands they had not planned to see, a phenomenon which festival organizer Eric Gilbert described as a "win-win situation.
[53][54] The third annual festival, in March 2014, endeavored to be more "green"/sustainable[55] and as of February had booked 350 bands (including solo projects and DJs, after rejecting over 1,000 other interested parties)[56] featuring the best of upcoming non-mainstream music from such genres as pop, heavy metal, hip hop, electronica, folk, and classic rock.
"[9][62] The music festival too was appraised months later by the Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce CEO and president Bill Conners as having benefits to the city beyond that of tourism.
"[63] It has been furthermore been cited as a potential entry in resumes regarding volunteering,[64] and in its second year Hackfort partnered with the Idaho Department of Labor in furtherance of the state's tech industry and digital economy.
Although approximately 7,500 attended Saturday night and local bars experienced a boom in business, the Boise Police Department issued no open alcohol container citations or responded to any significant incidents.
[4] The overlapping of synergistic events was of such complexity that the Boise Weekly published a layout of Venn diagrams,[83] and some of the venues did not typically host musical acts.
The result is a fishbowl scenario wherein bands and fans are constantly running into each other, exchanging remarks, ideas, cigarettes and contact info in Idaho’s delightfully compact capitol...
"[88] More generally the festival was also characterized for having demonstrating Boise's potential "to nurture the convergence of the big, bright, sprawling, conservative, mountain, desert west and the dark, creative, lush, liberal, urban centers of the Pacific Northwest.
"[92] The 2016 lineup was expected to feature more than 400 bands, including notable Boise acts Built to Spill, Hollow Wood, Thomas Paul, Toy Zoo, The Dirty Moogs, Get Wet +, Dark Swallows and Edmond Dantes.
[94] The full lineup, announced on February 12, included the indie acts Yacht, Chairlift, and Willis Earl Beal,[95] and more than two dozen venues[96] and 450 musicians and bands.
[103] With a wide variety of "forts,"[104][105] initial non-musical offerings ranged from a seminar by refugees (hosted by Mayor Dave Bieter himself) to Jungo Blizzard, a macro-puppet 25 feet tall with an arm span of 45 feet[106] based on the video game character from Primal Rage which is too large to get onto the main stage but which is generally expected to be ambushing festival goers,[107] to symposiums on podcasts.
"[110] A British reviewer remarked that "The mood on the fourth day of Boise, Idaho’s big music blowout... was buoyant and as bright as the sun shining on festival-goers all through downtown Boise,"[111] and months afterwards, after the disastrous Fyre Fest and given the continuing backlash against Coachella, Treefort was held up as an exemplary "little party monster" and "holistic arts festival" with a "'come sit with us' vibe which pulses throughout the town.
"[112] Additionally The Boise All-ages Movement Project (styled B-AMP), an Idaho nonprofit which provides for inclusive venues for all ages of musicians and audiences which uses the pop-up retail model, joined the festival.
"[119] The Boise All-Ages Movement Project (BAMP) was particularly well received,[113] as was George Clinton & P-Funk's set,[120] illustrating the range of decades of musical talent from funk to punk.
Ballet Idaho and Tispur provided an early, mesmerizing highlight,[121] and black, queer transgender musician bell's roar (Sean Desiree) performed a funny, poignant set at the Linen Building.
[122] Newsweek noted in its review that within sixteen blocks downtown one could see "200 people doing yoga; a child’s face wrapped in virtual reality goggles; a dozen bands arranged in a circle... [and] celebrity chefs plating Wagyu beef.
[127] The 8th Annual Treefort featured the headliners Liz Phair, Dan Deacon and Angélique Kidjo's Remain in Light[128] (the latter of whom unfortunately had to cancel due to illness).
[144] The festival returned to nearly its pre-COVID attendance, with a larger line-up and more five-day pass-holders than ever before; the headliners were Surf Curse, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Dinosaur Jr., and more.
[147] A local ad agency sets up an augmented reality installation at the mural-laden Freak Alley, "Freakfort"; unusually its patrons do not know which band (and their schedules) any particular mural or graffiti their smartphones shall serendipitously invoke.
