BAALS is a
music festival
A music festival is a community event with performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock, blues, folk, jazz, classical music), nationality, locality of musicians, or ho ...
which is primarily focused on electronic dance music, dance music and jam bands. The festival takes place in the city of
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...
and has been organized since 2012. Each year the festival earmarks and donates $5,000 to a local charity, cause or nonprofit. The first edition of the festival took place in 2012 as a downtown block part called House 4 a House. In 2014 the festival expanded to Headwaters Park at which point it changed its name to the BAALS Music Festival.
History
The event began on July 13, 2012 as a downtown block party entitled House4aHouse. The host of the event was an advocacy group called
A Better Fort who coincided the block party with another festival called The Three Rivers Festival. This block party raised $5,000, donated it to a local non-profit and garnered 2,000 attendees in its first year. Around the inaugural year the city of Fort Wayne endured ridicule, including multiple skits on ''
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'' is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, broadcast on ABC. The nightly hour-long show debuted on January 26, 2003, at Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywood, California, as part of ABC's ...
'', as the city explored naming a government building the “Harry Baals Government Center” after a former city Mayor.
In 2014, festival leaders changed the event name to BAALS citing the reason for the name change is to take the recently publicized stereotypes and poke fun at them. That same year the festival amassed 10,000 attendees between the two-part series and moved to Headwaters Park in downtown Fort Wayne.
Philanthropy
The BAALS Music Festival donates up to $5,000 each year to a selected local charity. In its first three years under A Better Fort, the festival donated a total of $15,000 to the Mad Anthony Children’s Hope House.
See also
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List of electronic music festivals
The following is an incomplete list of music festivals that feature electronic music, which encapsulates music featuring electronic instruments such as electric guitar and keyboards, as well as recent genres such as electronic dance music (E ...
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Live electronic music
Live electronic music (also known as live electronics) is a form of music that can include traditional electronic sound-generating devices, modified electric musical instruments, hacked sound generating technologies, and computers. Initially the pr ...
References
External links
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{{Rock festivals
Music festivals established in 2012
Electronic music festivals in the United States
Jam band festivals
Culture of Fort Wayne, Indiana
Tourist attractions in Fort Wayne, Indiana