(cheerful music) - Hello and welcome to Prairie Pulse.

Coming up a little bit later in the show, we'll learn about the eclectic Red River Valley History Paper collection at MSUM.

But first, joining me now is the owner and producer of WE Fest, Matt Mithun.

Matt, thanks for joining us today.

- Thanks, John.

Good to be here.

- As we get started, tell the folks a little bit about yourself and your background.

- Sure.

Well, I grew up in Minnetonka, Minnesota until I was 18.

Moved away for college, lived in the northeast between Vermont and New York for seven years, and then out in California for another nine or 10 years.

And then moved back with my family, married with three kids, to Minnesota in 2010.

And so here we are.

- Well, and with that said, and for people who don't know, what is WE Fest?

- Yeah, WE Fest is, it's a party.

It's a vacation.

It's country music for four days, camping for up to six days, however you wanna kind of slice it.

But it's just a gathering every year, first weekend in August, and it really kind of is a vacation for people year after year.

- Yeah.

Well, let's talk a little about maybe the history.

How long has WE Fest been going on?

Tell us some of the brief history.

- Yeah.

The 43rd year.

- 43rd.

- Skipped COVID.

So started in '83 and this makes it the 43rd year.

- So 1983.

- Yeah.

- So can you tell, I mean, how'd it get started?

Maybe a little bit about the history over the years.

- Sure.

- Yeah, that's 40 plus year.

- Yeah.

It started with Jeff Krieger and a dream, a guy who grew up in Milwaukee.

He first wanted to do it in River Falls, Wisconsin.

They wouldn't grant him the permit.

And so he found this site in Detroit Lakes, used to be an old dude ranch called Soo Pass Ranch.

And he started in '83 with Alabama, that was the big headliner, and just grew it.

It was on this funky little barn stage, you know, kind of this cut up barn, and just, you know, have been growing it year after year.

And then I got involved as producer.

We've been involved with the land, Soo Pass Ranch for years, and I got involved producing it in 2021.

- Okay.

So 2021 you took over.

So when will WE Fest take place this year?

Now you kind of said it, first full weekend in August, is that what.

- Yeah, so it's always the first full weekend in August, Thursday, Friday, Saturday are the full festival days.

And then we kick it off Wednesday night on the barn stage.

So there's four different stages.

And so those dates this year are August 5th, Wednesday, and then six, seven, and eight.

- Okay.

You talked about your role as producer, you said when you got involved, but how and why did you get involved?

- Yeah, so I'd been producing shows in Somerset, Wisconsin since 2011.

I'm involved with a venue in Wisconsin called Somerset Amphitheater.

And then it changed hands during COVID, kind of a little before COVID actually, and it was a little bit of a question as to what was gonna happen.

And coming out of that, coming outta COVID, I got the opportunity to take over production, and I'd been, you know, working on stuff in Wisconsin for years, and so it was just kind of a nice transition.

- So can you talk about, again, 43 years, what's the growth been like over that time?

Has it been a steady growth or have there been periods of peaks and valleys?

Can you talk a little bit about that?

- Yeah.

There's been some peaks and valleys.

There's been some heartburn.

You know, the festival landscape has changed a lot from many different angles.

And it's, to be honest, going through a little bit of a rough patch right now, you know, festivals.

There's a lot of festivals that aren't making it.

And there's just a lot of competition out there, a lot of hard ticket shows as it's called.

And so, you know this, right now what WE Fest has going for it and has had for years is that infrastructure, and it's had this unique setting Soo Pass Ranch, which is really a differentiator.

And so, you know, that, knock on wood, has really helped the festival.

'Cause there's so much infrastructure there that we're not just popping up a festival year after year.

And so, you know, hopefully we're around for another 43 years.

- Well, what kind of audience does WE Fest draw?

- It's a mix.

You know, it's country loving, so it's definitely a country audience and they really do like their country genre now.

We try to, every year, bring in some crossover acts and mix it up, but it's also people that just want to be there for the experience.

So you walk around the campgrounds and while you may hear a lot of country, maybe half country, you also hear a lot of rock.

You hear a lot of hip hop, you hear jam band.

So it's an eclectic group within the musical lineup.

- Well, can you talk about maybe the in-state versus out-of-state numbers that you have.

- Sure.

Yeah, so we, there's a lot from North Dakota, as you'd imagine, the majority from Minnesota.

But there are a lot of attendees year over year from the North Dakota region, and then kind of the greater Midwest.

And that makes up the vast majority of our attendees, the Midwest.

But we do get people from just about every state each year.

- So how many paid staff does WE Fest employ?

- Yeah, so we, when you include everybody, including all the bartenders, security, volunteer groups, everything, it is over a thousand.

You know we, a couple years ago, peaked at about 1400.

So it's a lot.

It's a lot.

- But what about, I guess, you know, that's interesting.

I didn't, but when I was asking, I was thinking more of that core group that works on it year round.

- Year round.

That's a much smaller group that's there year round.

But we do have a number of people on staff on site year round.

And then we also have people in satellite locations, but that's a much trimmer group.

- Yeah, what about volunteers, do you have volunteers involved?

- Yeah.

- How many?

- So, you know, it's the Lions Club, it's NDSU, it's, you know, all sorts of sports teams and it's probably a couple hundred from these different groups.

And it's great.

I mean, they, you know, a lot of 'em are athletes that are raising money for their whatever the sport is and whatever the school is.

And they work hard.

It's fun.

- Yeah, and how important are these people to the success of WE Fest?

- It's really important and it's also usually very local, you know, between Detroit Lakes and Fargo.

And so it's nice that it's that local economy, you know, getting back into whatever their organization is.

- Yeah.

Let's talk maybe a little bit about this year for now.

Are there any changes that attendees can expect this year?

- Well, we've got, so we've been making a lot of big changes over the years, so that, you know, the permanent stage, expanding the campgrounds, more electrical.

And that feels like every year now more electric sites, campsites for big RVs, 'cause RVs get bigger and bigger.

And so that's one of them.

We're doing more electric sites this year.

The East Village, we've continued to improve more activations in there, more entertainment.

Production, bigger jumbotrons, so the fans will see, especially if you're in GA, both the left and right side, bigger video walls, also a real big video wall in the center.

They'll be there for the duration of the festival.

Also the barn stage.

So we hit capacity last year at the kickoff party Wednesday night.

We've increased capacity.

And so people will see that, 'cause I think we're gonna sell out again Wednesday night or kind of hit capacity.

It comes with a three day ticket that Wednesday night, so we've expanded that.

- Now you said East Village, what does that mean?

- Yeah, so it's, when you enter from the east side of the bowl, when you're coming over from the campgrounds, you know, Viking, Blue Ox, Oatfield, that side, there's a village that's not inside the actual grounds.

And so people, if they're not ready to commit, you know, and come inside the gate, we have this activation area with kind of a fun Red Bull bar and there's gonna be different games, and this dance floor and it'll be fun.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

- Well, let's talk about some of the highlights that they can expect from the 2026 WE Fest lineup.

- Yeah.

Well, Lainey Wilson's a big one.

We've, you know, we've been looking at her for a few years and everybody loves her.

So her first time at WE Fest.

Thomas Rhett's first time at WE Fest.

Brooks & Dunn, not their first time certainly, but it's been a number of years since we've had 'em.

Little Big Town, you know, is a support act.

They're a headliner at a lot of festivals.

Maybe my favorite voice in country music, Jamey Johnson.

Just love his voice.

Max McNown, he's a younger artist.

Just a ton of momentum.

I heard he actually was just at a festival in Florida, and just crushed it.

Then we've got Nate Smith first time at WE Fest.

Randy Houser, Cooper Allen is another first timer, actually Shenandoah never been to WE Fest.

It's the first time for them.

And then a couple of acts that are, you know, maybe stretch the bounds of country, like Brent Cobb, Maggie Anton, they'll be fun.

- Yeah.

How many performers do you have normally during WE Fest?

- I think this year, 29 total performers.

Probably about 35 different shows.

'Cause we, you know, we have the four different stages, and a few of the artists are doing multiple stages.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

What does it take for the WE Fest team to curate this show?

- Well, I mean, it's a fun process.

I love booking the lineup.

And so, you know, it starts a little over a year and a half out, and it's just trying to put it all together, you know, for the overall festival then, but by day.

You also want by day to have kind of the best, the best lineup and some, you know, artists.

So the headliners they have say in who those support acts, the direct support acts are.

And so that matters as well.

So yeah, it's just a, you know, it's a fun process putting it all together.

- Well, you said that a year and a half out, but, you know, how do you get these bookings?

I mean, are there agencies that deal with it?

Are you dealing with an agency or are you dealing with the performer themselves?

- Yeah, so yeah, different agencies.

So, you know, the big ones WME, CAA, UTA, on down the line.

There's a bunch of 'em.

And yeah, they just represent their acts, and so it's a time consuming process, but it's also a lot of fun.

- Yeah, so how does the WE Fest team have an idea on what sales will look like for each year?

I mean, you've got VIP sections, you can talk about those, 'cause I think those sell out earlier, and yeah, talk about your ticket sales.

- Yeah, so you're absolutely right.

So it's the VIP that sells out first every year and kind of reserved in general.

And then GA you know, almost, you know, we usually have GA capacity up until the festival.

You know, a couple years ago we obviously were, we kind of ran out.

But, you know, last year it was interesting.

So Megan Maroney was able to kind of book her on the upswing and she was responsible for quite a few tickets, GA tickets I think, you know, at the end there.

And so we saw a big upswing.

But yeah, you can kinda get a good read year over year where sales are and how they trend and where we're gonna be.

But typically we have some tickets left, you know, at the show.

- Well, with that said, how much did the headliners affect that number?

How important is it?

- Yeah, A lot.

I mean, a lot.

And it depends on the headliner, you know.

Some headliners they really are gonna appeal to more of the VIP audience, but some of 'em are really gonna appeal to GA or the Pit.

And so it really depends on that artist.

- Do ticket sales ever cut off?

Is there an end date or do you sell 'em right up to coming on the day up?

- Yeah, GA we typically sell all the way up to the show and then, and typically if we have inventory, then we'll sell it at the show itself.

- Is there a max capacity on the grounds?

- There is, yeah, there is.

So it's, you know, about 45,000.

- Yeah, well that's a lot of people.

- Yeah.

- What kind of experiences do WE Fest have that other music festivals in the area may not offer?

How do they differ?

- Well, you know, a big one is the site.

So Soo Pass Ranch, like I said, old dude ranch.

It's just beautiful.

You know, the rolling hills, the woods, Lake Sally, you know, most festivals don't have that sort of setting.

And then our infrastructure.

You know, we've invested millions, you know, in the last four or five years in the infrastructure itself.

And so fortunately we don't have to pop something up in the middle of a cornfield, right.

And so that helps us a lot as a festival, both the feel of it and from a cost perspective.

And then our team.

I mean, we have the best team in the world.

And some of 'em have been there for 30 years, some for five years, but a lot of 'em are local and so we just we're very lucky.

- Do you have any advice for new, probably more new or even returning attendees, on how to prepare for the WE Fest experience?

- Yeah, get there early, all right.

If you can get there, you know, come Tuesday and just get ready and then have the kickoff on Wednesday, that helps everybody.

And you get the most outta your buck, right, if you get there early.

And then, you know, keep hydrated, look out for your buddies and just have a good time.

- I know you did glamping in years past, does that continue or.

- You know, we're not doing it this year.

We decided to use that for more RV camping.

Because we always sell out of electric, these big RV sites, we decided to change that.

- Oh yeah.

Say you gotta try things and do different things.

How much does audience feedback influence your choices at WE Fest.

- A ton.

A ton.

So we do multiple surveys every year and I scour those surveys, especially on the booking side of stuff.

And I reference it, I go back and I look.

And so it matters a lot.

And so, you know, for people who fill those surveys out, it's great 'cause I read it and it, and if you have certain artists you wanna see or just certain changes you wanna see at WE Fest, put it in there 'cause we listen.

- Yeah.

But what about your vendors?

I know a lot of vendors return year after year after year, but can vendors approach you and try to get to WE Fest and set up a whatever?

- Yeah.

- Not a booth, but it's a.

- Yeah, yeah, for sure.

I mean, a lot of 'em have been there for years and have kind of a permanent spot, but we're changing over food.

And so certainly food, beverage, we're always trying to stay fresh, do some new things each year.

And then crafts lots of different craft vendors, so there's opportunity there as well.

- Yeah, what do you think the biggest impact WE Fest has on the area?

- Well, I mean, it's a lot of fun for people.

So I think, you know, we get a lot of locals who attend the festival, but then, you know, obviously the economic impact is important to the area.

- Yeah.

Can you talk about some of the challenges that come with running a festival of this size?

- Well, security has been, you know, it's unfortunate and sobering for all of us, some of the, you know, security incidents that have happened at festivals.

And so that's like priority number one is keeping everyone safe.

And so that's changed a lot over the last, you know, five years you know, keeps us on our toes for sure.

And then, you know, aside from that, it's probably weather and just, I mean, you know, the things you can't control, but you do your best to be ready.

- But I mean, even traffic, do you work with the sheriff's department and things leading up to this?

Do you communicate with local businesses?

I mean, it's ongoing every year, so they know what to expect, but you have these conversations, I'm sure.

- Yeah, yeah, we do.

Throughout the year and then we, you know, have these tabletop meetings where we come up with new scenarios, like, you know, what could happen, all the what ifs.

But we work very closely with the sheriff's department.

- Yeah.

Maybe the goals.

Do you have any, what can audiences look forward to in future WE Fest events.

Have you got any great plans?

A vision?

- Well, I'm always booking.

You know, it kind of drives my family crazy, right?

Every time my kids are in the car, I'm doing some talent research.

So that's, you know, always kind of a fun thing.

But we also have plans for more improvements, so we just keep putting money back into the site and so people will see that.

- Well, you do, but as far as, you said, do you ever see changing the genre, or mixing the genres more?

Are you gonna stick strictly as a country festival?

- Yeah, so the barn stage is something that we've looked at to program some, you know, some different music.

And so I'm looking at that for 2027 potentially.

And that's a great size stage, you know, you can fit about 5,000 people there.

And so for a smaller event, it's a good first step and then grow into the big bowl.

So I have been looking at that, the barn stage.

And then, you know, we are always every year kind of thinking about certain things for the main bowl, but it just takes a certain size event to make it all work.

- Sure.

Well you're not gonna please 45,000 if you don't make changes, depending on what changes you make.

But what are you most proud of with the legacy of WE Fest?

- Just making people happy, you know.

It's something that when you look at, these people have been coming for 30 years and now they're bringing their kids, and pretty soon it's gonna be grandkids, you know, you feel like something's working.

And so we plan to be here forever.

And so, hopefully we can keep that tradition going.

- Wow.

Well, 43 years going and going strong I think.

If people want more information, we are out of time here today, but where can they go?

Who can they contact?

- Wefest.com.

- It's just that simple.

- Just that simple.

- All right.

Well Matt, we wish you the best of luck and look forward to seeing you there.

- All right, thanks John.

- Stay tuned for more.

(cheerful music) The Red River Valley History Papers is an eclectic collection in the archives at Minnesota State University Moorhead.

The records include newspapers, photographs, postcards, and other donated pieces pertaining to the Red River Valley area.

While many of these materials are typically disposed of, this collection gives us an indispensable snapshot of Northwest Minnesota history.

(playful music) - I'm always really drawn to the oldest one.

I just like to see how things were written in the time.

So as an archivist is really meaningful for me to preserve the history of this region.

What we have here is unique, nobody else has it.

Our materials here represent the culture and the people of this area.

My name is Trista Raezer-Stursa and I am the university archivist here at MSUM.

We are currently in the MSUM archives, which is comprised of two archives actually.

We have the university archives, and then we also have the Northwest Minnesota Historical Center, which is archival material pertaining to the Northwestern region of Minnesota.

So as a archivist, my responsibility is for the archives here, acquisitions, getting in new historical materials, providing access to these materials to researchers who come in, such as students, local community members, genealogists, scholars.

The new materials that come in, need to be organized.

And we also do outreach to let people know that we're in archives here and we'd like people to come in to look at materials and use them in their research.

The archives here was founded in 1972.

The Minnesota Historical Society down in St.

Paul, they wanted people in the state to have easier access to materials that pertained to their local history, so they started what they would call regional historical centers across the state.

So the Northwest one was established here at MSUM, so they transferred some locally relevant collections to us, and it's grown since then.

(playful music) I would say that these materials, most of it is what we call ephemera.

So ephemera is materials that people don't typically save.

It's comprised of newspapers, photographs, postcards, maps, brochures, flyers.

Everything in this collection was most likely donated by an individual.

They find out we are here, they know about us and brought it over.

So it's usually just a bunch of individuals collecting historic things, and wanting to make sure that these items get preserved and that people in the future down the road can see them.

So right here is the oldest newspaper that we have in this collection, June 4th, 1885, The Evening News.

It's kind of funny because there isn't really any hard hitting articles in it.

It's actually about half of it is actually ads and then it's kind of little short sentences of things happening.

And then there's a few items of like, this is what's going on in Georgetown, or Kragnes or these areas.

Back in the day, there'd often be like kind of local town gossip would show up in newspapers.

Headline that said, "Mrs.

Leckwold possibly insane.

Physicians say woman's distorted mind is not uncommon condition."

And it's kind of gives you a little snapshot of what thinking was like in the past that, you know, we wouldn't think that way today.

When it comes to newspapers, in the past it used to be much bigger physically, and I've noticed, you know, even in my lifetime, probably to save costs for money, they've gotten kind of like thinner and smaller.

Now, currently most newspapers are really online, which you know, is gonna be hard for people in the future.

We have to hope that those newspaper companies are preserving their online presence and saving those digital records.

Technology has really been great for archives because we've been able to digitize a lot of materials and make them available online, so that people around the world can see these materials.

It's really exciting to know that someone on the other side of the globe could be reading a student newspaper from MSUM.

So a really fun thing about being an archivist is seeing the new materials that come in.

You know, there are times when we get something and it's just like, wow, this is so cool.

So for example, during World War II, there was a Air Corps training done here on campus.

So men came in to do training before they went off to war.

So we've gotten some donations from family members of those men.

Once got a scrapbook put together by a student here in the 1920s.

When you see photos of people from the '20s, they're usually fairly formal.

But I was going through it and there's these really fun, candid photos of this girl and her friends.

They were making silly faces.

They were having a pajama party, just being, just really candid.

Photos you usually don't see.

So it was really fun because it made it feel more real.

Like this is a college student who's having a fun time here on campus while they're also studying.

Seeing those really, getting those older materials from students from the past is a lot of fun.

The archives is a place where you can go to really see like, okay, here is a photograph of this town.

This is what it looked like.

Here's a newspaper, this is what happened that day.

Our history is a part of our culture, it what makes this community what it is today.

And it's good to know what happened in the past, or someone might be curious about a specific thing.

Like, you know, what's the history of my home?

What was going on when it was built?

How has this area grown and developed?

Who were the prominent people who lived here a hundred years ago?

(playful music) - Well, that's all we have on Prairie Pulse this week.

And as always, thanks for watching.

(cheerful music) - [Announcer] Funded by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4th, 2008.

And by the members of Prairie Public.