After a decade at Grand Rapids’ Wealthy Theatre, this year’s festival will take place in April at The Orbit Room, with Papa Vegas headlining a five-band bill that also includes PotatoeBabies.
Papa Vegas and PotatoeBabies will top the bill for the 2017 edition of Jake’s Music Festival, an April 22 benefit concert for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
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The Grand Rapids festival this year also is moving to The Orbit Room following 10 straight years at Wealthy Theatre.
As always, a diverse assortment of West Michigan performers and businesses will team up to benefit diabetes research at the annual festival: Grand Rapids’ Papa Vegas, which first made its mark in the 1990s, PotatoeBabies, The JetBeats, The Autumnatic and Lipstick Jodi.
Following a decade at Wealthy Theatre, with tens of thousands of dollars raised for the cause, organizers made the decision this year to move the event, said Tom Scheidel. He noted that staging the concert and auction in the intimate confines of Wealthy Theatre had become increasingly difficult as attendance grew.
“We love Wealthy Theatre,” he said. “It was great being there, but being out at The Orbit Room with more space and having all that free parking will make it better for patrons and help draw more people.”
The benefit is named for Scheidel’s son, Jake, who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age 6. Twenty years later, Jake Scheidel is the festival’s lead emcee.
Singer and wildman Rev Charles Preston Smith of Grand Rapids’ PotatoeBabies has attended and performed at past festivals.
“It’s always been a priority to attend and an honor to be a part of it. It makes a serious difference when you know every penny is going to the cause. That’s rare,” he said.
Smith said he’s also excited to bring PotatoeBabies’ unique, theatrical “mayhem” to The Orbit Room, a venue he hasn’t played since his “metal days” 30 years ago.
In addition to performances, local businesses have donated items and services for a silent auction, with folks bidding on everything from computer repair to arts and crafts.
Tickets are $10 in advance and $15 at the door, and can be purchased online at orbitroom.com, with 100 percent of the proceeds donated to the local Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation chapter.
VIP tickets also are available for $25 and include a free beverage, a “swag bag” and reserved seating on The Orbit Room’s upper level. Doors open at 6 p.m., with music starting at 7 p.m. Children 12 and younger are free.
For more information, visit jakesmusicfestival.com.
Check out Local Spins coverage of the 2016 Jake’s Music Festival.
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