Mile of Music to once again offer something for everyone
One of the goals of Mile of Music is to introduce the fun of musical performance to the young and the young at heart and to encourage the creative use of body, hands and voice to create music.
By Jerry Iverson
In just three weeks, musicians from all over the United States, Canada and countries around the world will arrive in Appleton for the 12th Annual Mile of Music festival. It all kicks off on Thursday afternoon July 31st and runs all day and into the late night for the following four days. More than 200 musicians will perform more than 700 approximately 45-minute shows at more than 40 venues.
All of it is free to the public.
The musicians are required to perform all-original music, a unique aspect of the festival that puts it on the map for all aspiring and rising artists. The venues are mostly situated along a one-mile stretch of College Ave., from Spats on the east to the Chapel at Lawrence University on the west. Other venues are sprinkled elsewhere around the near-downtown area, including the festival’s main venue, Jones Park. Genres run the gamut from Americana to Blues to Country to Folk and on to Hip Hop.
There is so much music it is nearly impossible to catch all of the acts over the four days. Music lovers can listen to guitar music at the Copper Rock coffee shop, enjoy Americana groups performing in listening rooms at the Hilton Hotel, be enriched by outdoor performances at Jones Park and dance to hard rock at D2 on College.
A major feature of Mile of Music is music education. Families and individuals can learn to play the ukulele at the Lawrence Lawn, dance moves on the stage at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center or play the drums to the beat of a Caribbean calypso. One of the goals of Mile of Music is to introduce the fun of musical performance to the young and the young at heart and to encourage the creative use of body, hands and voice to create music.
Mile of Music was initiated in 2013 by Dave Willems of Willems Marketing and Corey Chisel of Appleton. The two motivating ideas were original music that was free to the public in downtown Appleton.
This year’s festival runs from Thursday, July 31 through Sunday, August 3. The lineup of musicians can be found on the indispensable Mile of Music app or you can visit the website at mileofmusic.org. The app allows you to check out each venue’s schedule; find the entire chronological order of the performances by date and time; or seek out specific musicians for their times and venues and listen to samples of their music. As always, MoM attempts to introduce new musicians every year but always brings back fan favorites.
In order to keep this event free, in 2022 the nonprofit organization Appleton Community Music began raising funds through donations to help pay for Mile of Music musicians and their lodging. That money also helps pay for the musical education opportunities throughout the four days.
Appleton Community Music’s goal for 2025 is to raise $395,000 to fund the mission of the organization and to foster year-round music throughout the Fox Cities. Learn more about ACM and how to donate to keep the music going.
