West Sixth Street was filled with tents as people gathered Oct. 5 to promote women in music during the MidWay Music Festival.
“(MidWay is) a beautiful festival celebrating women of all identities and non-binary people in music, bringing them to the front, putting them forwards because we know that they are underutilized, underused, underpromoted,” Jsaid Jada Bee, singer of Prince cover band Royalty.
MidWay Music Speaks, the organizational body that puts on the festival, organizes the event every year to provide empowerment and performance opportunities to people of all different experience levels, Bee said.
During a breezy afternoon of harmonizing and smooth melodies, Patchwork Moonlight took the stage with three lead female singers: Brentney Campbell, Mira Cordell and Anna Thomason, with guitarist Cory Glisson and bassist Jon Ford.
With lyrics such as “all I wanna do is speak my mind,” the band sang inspirational messages which could be likened to the message and purpose of the festival: creating more opportunities for people to find their voice.
Patchwork Moonlight put on a retro performance with calming and soothing blues melodies tinged with folk and laced with jazzy upbeat tempos.
Drew Fagin, a 23-year-old studying human-computer interaction design at IU, lived within a close proximity to the event and just so happened to walk out to all the bands performing.
“It was a great event and the best that Bloomington has to offer,” Fagin said. “It’s wonderful to have a festival which showcases so much diversity within the Bloomington music scene.”
Filled with varied music genres, the MidWay Music Festival was a great display of allowance for individuals from all different backgrounds to present their talents.
“It’s incredible to see all these local aspects together in a merging of one event that truly fosters the embodiment of womens’ abilities,” Fagin said.
