FoCoMX-2012

Jenn Cohen | May 1, 2012 | 0 Comments

by Hannah Lintner

The Fort Collins Music Experiment, also known as FoCoMX, celebrated its fourth birthday this year. The weekend music festival, which took place on April 14 and 15, featured over 300 bands from Northern Colorado at 30 venues around town. Bands played at places such as the Aggie, Fort Collins Brewery, Cranknstein, the Alley Cat Café, and GNU. The venues stretched from Bar SS in Laporte to South College at Chipper’s Bowling Lanes, on both Friday and Saturday night.

The volunteers, who run the festival, receive free tickets for the weekend in exchange for four hours of help; whether it’s working the doors at venues, helping with production and staging, or selling tickets. 350 locals volunteered this year to help make FoCoMX possible. The Bohemian Foundation, which also funds the New West Festival, made contributions to provide free bus service in between venues all weekend. The buses ran from 8pm – 2am both Friday nights, touching each of the seven stops every 15 to 30 minutes. Including wristband sales, artist passes, volunteers, sponsors, and media, about 7,500 wristbands were worn this weekend throughout the city.

The Fort Collins Music Association, the founders of the festival, provides education, support, and networking opportunities for the local artists of Fort Collins. They work to bring together to town’s music community, and inspire artists to continue creating music. Greta Cornett, the mother of the entire event, has a lot to be proud of. “It’s been pretty incredible to watch how much it’s grown”, Cornett says. “Not only with the amount of talent, but also with the community coming together to really support our local music scene.” As well as organizing the event, Cornett plays in bands 3 Twins, 12 Cents for Marvin, and Mama Lenny and the Remedy. All three bands played at the festival. “It’s really cool to get the perspective of the band, and experience the venues. It reminds me why I do this in the first place.” Cornett also said that all of the shows she played were packed. The Fort Collins Music Association successfully accomplishes the desired effect with FoCoMX, an extravaganza that focuses solely on celebrating Fort Collins’ thriving music scene and talented musicians.