With a brisk fall breeze, the red-orange leaves on the trees and the warmth of a perfect flannel, Boone and Crockett’s Flannel Fest Saturday will be an event to embrace autumn and enjoy a small music festival. It is located at 818 S. Water St. in the Harbor District neighborhood.
John Revord is the sole proprietor of craft cocktail bar Boone and Crockett. He also co-owns the Cooperage, which is the building’s event and wedding space. Flannel Fest is held by a group of collaborators that all own space in the building along with Boone and Crockett. The group includes the owners of TACO MOTO and the Pedal Tavern.
Flannel Fest started seven years ago and was intended to be an annual event at Boone and Crockett’s old location in Bayview, but due to business, development and relocation of the bar, it never took off.
The idea for Flannel Fest originated from a joke.
“Flannel Fest started as a tongue-in-cheek joke poking fun at the fact that on any given fall evening at old Boone and Crockett the booths were plaid, the customers wore plaid and the staff wore plaid,” Revord said.
After seven years and a move to the new location, the second annual flannel fest will commence this weekend.
Revord said he thought that with Milwaukee being a big music city, with festivals large and small like Summerfest in the summer and Mitten Fest in winter, there should be a continuation of the festival cycle in the fall.
“There was sort of a gap in the small, fun outdoor festival window in the fall in Milwaukee,” Revord said.
The festival will start at noon with a live broadcast from Milwaukee School of Engineering’s radio tation WMSE’s program “Saturday afternoon Boogie Bang.” Boogie Bang is “Milwaukee’s longest running R&B, hip-hop and rap music program,” according to their website. Live music begins at 3 p.m. until midnight with artists like Polica, an american synth pop band from Minneapolis and Milwaukee favorites like Klassik, a local musician and rapper. The lineup can be found on the Flannel Fest website.
At midnight, DJ parties will commence. There will also be food vendors like TACO MOTO and Maya Ophelia’s, a vegan and vegetarian restaurant throughout the day. Boone and Crockett and the Cooperage will also be having an open house of their spaces in the building.
The festival promotes and encourages flannel-wearing and will be selling name brand flannels with the Flannel Fest logo on it.
For students at Marquette like Keelyn Gross, a junior in the College of Health Sciences, the idea of Flannel Fest is something that intrigues her, especially because she is a big fan of flannel herself.
“I like to participate in what I like to call ‘Flannel Friday,’ and in high school I wore it every Friday of the school year,” Gross said.
Though she enjoys wearing it in the fall, Gross said she thinks it’s a good summer vibe to pair with shorts.
“It’s always good to have a few flannels in your closet, especially in case Mason Ramsey ever comes to town,” Gross said.
Gross said she likes the idea of Flannel Fest because she thinks it provides an organic feeling.
Along with Gross, sophomore in the College of Health Sciences Zen Almousa wears flannel, specifically as a complementary part of his wardrobe.
“I wear a lot of grunge rock clothes, and I wear flannel to complement those kinds of things,” Almousa said.
Almousa also said Flannel Fest interests him, especially because he really likes to explore Milwaukee when he has free weekends, and an outdoor festival would make him more willing to go.
Most of the festival is open to enthusiasts of all ages, and Revord said families are encouraged to come during the day. The afterparties with DJs that begin at midnight are restricted to the 21-and-older crowd.
Flannel Fest, Revord said, is the perfect way to get outdoors on a crisp, fall afternoon.
