Fort Stevens festival supports interpretive project

Published 9:00 am Tuesday, August 27, 2024

The third annual Summer’s End Music Festival at Fort Stevens is bringing two stages for music this year, along with a fundraising goal to launch a project that could allow people to learn about fort history from anywhere in the world.

Over Labor Day weekend, Fort Stevens will welcome 12 bands for back-to-back days of entertainment at the state park on Saturday and Sunday.

Vendors, family-friendly entertainment and outdoor activities like disc golf and a 5K run are part of the festival as well.

Summer’s End will have an upper and lower stage for musicians this summer, festival director Kami Allen said.

The additional stage expands the festival’s performance capacity, meaning guests can expect uninterrupted music on both days.

“We’ll never have dead air time,” Allen said. “It’ll either be the upper band or the lower one playing at all times throughout the day.”

The main stage is still on Battery Pratt, but having two stages will give the festival a quicker turnaround on performers and more bands playing overall, Allen said. Two tribute bands — one covering AC/DC and the other Aerosmith — are two of the festival’s headliners.

“There are several other bands that have played kind of locally here and there,” Allen said.

Country artist Jacquie Roar, who appeared on Season 24 of the popular NBC singing show “The Voice,” is Saturday’s special guest.

Summer’s End also serves as a fundraiser for the fort.

Last year, the Friends of Old Fort Stevens, a nonprofit that works in partnership with the park, funded interpretive panels at Battery Smur. That project was completed successfully, Allen said.

In 2022, the inaugural festival brought in $42,000 toward restoration efforts of the historic Fort Stevens Guardhouse, according to the festival’s website.

Now, organizers are looking to raise money for an immersive digital project to connect people virtually with the fort’s history, something staff are excited to get off the ground.

Fort Stevens is an expansive military base once used to guard the North Coast during war times. Now, it’s a hub of historical structures and information.

Allen explained the history project is a mobile app that gives users the chance to access information on the fort’s past in a virtual reality-type setting. It has features people can use if they’re physically at the fort or from anywhere in the world.

“You’re able to look at it and see the different interpretations that we have going on about the history of Fort Stevens and what things used to look like and what they look like now,” she said.

The project was developed in collaboration with the virtual reality platform TimeLooper and is expected to launch sometime in the early fall.

The app will also include a walkthrough of Battery Mishler. In-person tours aren’t held there year-round because of weather constraints, and the structure is also hard to navigate for some people because of its low ceilings and stairs.

“We wanted to make it more inclusive and accessible for people by being a version of the tour that anybody can have access to,” Allen said.

Similar to last year’s festival, the Big Gun Run 5K on the morning of Saturday is open for registration. It loops around the historical portion of the fort to areas people might see on regular visits to the state park.

“The path of the run takes you to different areas that you may or may not know exist,” Allen said.

Summer’s End will have a mix of both food and retail vendors, Allen said, with lots of regional sellers. There will be an axe-throwing booth, too.

Summer’s End Music Festival

Summer’s End Music Festival

Noon to 9 p.m. Saturday and noon to 8 p.m. Sunday at Fort Stevens Historic Area, 1900 Ocean Drive, Hammond

Tickets are available by calling 971-403-8629. For a full lineup of musicians scheduled to perform, visit www.fortstevenssummersend.com