Kane Family Drive-In brings back Squatchfest Music Festival
Expecting more than 1,000 attendees this year, the annual Squatchfest Music Festival will take place at Saturday, July 16 at the Kane Family DriveIn.
While the festival has attracted anywhere from 600 to 1,000 people over the years, Kane Family Drive-In Owner, Lowell Watts said they are hoping to attract about 1,250 people to this year's music festival. The festival is coming back after a two year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It's our once a year shot in the arm. It helps keeps the lights on and keeps the drivein alive,” Lowell said.
When Lowell and his wife, Jackie bought the drive-in in 2015, the plan was to eventually have a music festival at the venue. One day back when the drivein was first purchased, Lowell said he and Tracy Smith, who operates tech for the drivein, looked out onto the venue and could visualize the possibilities of a music festival.
“My friend Tracy and I went up by the movie screen and looked back and we said to each other, ‘yeah, this looks like a music festival,' We put it in our five year plan, but we were so excited to do it that we did it in our second year,” Lowell said.
Five bands will be appearing at the festival this year, including JD Eicher from Cleveland, Ohio, Handsome Jack from Buffalo, New York, Derek Woods Band from Pittsburgh, Meet Loaf from south Florida, and The Thunder Skulls from Kane.
While the sound management in previous years has been done through the drivein, this year sound will be managed by a professional sound engineer. The light show will also be professionally engineered.
Cameras are placed around the venue stage to get close up shots on the drive-in screen of the bands while they're performing.
“If the lead guitarist is doing a really great guitar riff, and we've got the camera zoomed in so all you can see are his fingers and the neck of the guitar, that's 60 feet tall right in front of you,” Lowell said. “It's like our own jumbotron.”
“You're going to a Darien Lake-style concert in Kane, Pennsylvania,” Lowell said. “We're excited to bring live music to the area again.”
The gates will be open at 2 p.m. that day and music will start at 3 p.m. with the annual Sasquatch calling contest and fireworks immediately afterward around 10:30 p.m.
There will be food and drinks available during the festival along with games and prizes.
For more information about the music festival, visit Squatchfest.org.