David Neimanis, Matt Mincin and Bryan Williams, all FREDstock organizers, hope to host FREDstock at the Chautauqua County Fairgrounds.
Photo courtesy of Courtney Gfroerer / Managing Editor
MAGGIE GILROY
Reverb Editor
Judging by the way Matthew Mincin runs between meetings, fields phone calls and constantly updates his seemingly endless spreadsheet of contacts, it is no wonder Fredonia mayor Stephen Keefe refers to him as “a man on a mission.”
That mission is “FREDstock Music Festival ’14,” a not-for-profit organization aimed at bringing Fred Fest back to its roots. Mincin said his intention with FREDstock is to draw students away from the drug-and alcohol-rampant house party scene that is jeopardizing Fred Fest and bring the students and community together for a music festival.
A love for the community
“When I moved here about three years ago I fell in love with its community and decided to really work on, like, helping out with the mayor. I got an internship with him and basically what I started with him was to promote Fredonia, Chautauqua County area, specifically the Village of Fredonia,” Mincin said in a recent interview.
A senior business administration major, Mincin is not enrolled in any classes this semester in order to make time for four internships. Mincin also spends time developing the Entrepreneurship Club, which he began last semester, out of its incubating phase.
Among students Mincin is known for creating “The Jungle,” which is located in the backyard of the house Mincin shares with roommates and FREDstock collaborators Bryan Williams and Jack Hodgens.
Mincin met Williams two years ago outside of Starbucks.
“We sat down and talked about students and how it’s kind of ridiculous that students go downtown, get drunk, repeat the cycle,” Mincin said.
Together, Mincin, Williams and Hodgens made “The Jungle” a popular hang-out space and well-known name on campus.
It was through the positive response to “The Jungle” that Mincin and Williams saw the demand for a music-oriented event. This demand increased as students drifted away from the on-campus Fred Fest events and shifted toward large house parties, which have created a negative reputation for Fred Fest in the community and has even caused some community members to move out of the Village of Fredonia during Fred Fest weekend.
“So, right now we saw the demand and, you know, as far as Fred Fest goes this demand has grown to such a point where we wanted to make a music festival in the backyard and, you know, and we came up with the idea. It’s called ‘FREDstock’ and since it’s in the backyard of our house we wanted to call it the ‘Creekside Chillin’ Music Festival.’”
Mincin took the idea and quickly acted on it, creating a Facebook page and stirring up buzz on campus. This buzz, however, was quickly halted by an unexpected e-mail.
Un-invited attention unveils hidden opportunity
When Mincin opened an email from Dr. David Herman, Vice President of Student Affairs, informing Mincin that he needed to come in for a meeting, Mincin was unsure of what to expect. When Herman asked if Mincin knew why he was asked to come, Mincin was clueless.
“And he’s just like, ‘Matt, I heard you have like 40-50 bands coming to your house on Fred Fest,’” Mincin said. “He’s like, ‘Do you understand, like the Village of Fredonia is not going to be able to handle this? And like the property damages involved and, all of the people who are going to come and like –”’
“He pretty much told us we were going to go to jail,” Williams added.
“And I told him, I’m like, ‘I don’t want to go to jail,’” Mincin said. “So this was an opportunity, right then and there, to completely change the underground scene that we have and re-create something new.”
Mincin said he persuaded Herman to be open minded and set out to create a non-underground event that would both change the party scene in Fredonia and the community’s perception of the
“I told him, ‘I don’t want to be an underground kid working against you guys,’” Mincin said.
Herman brought up several red flags for Mincin to consider, and Mincin brought his thoughts to the Campus Community Coalition meeting on Feb. 24. Mincin then sprang into action, calling former Fredonia Mayor and Mincin’s mentor Frank Pagano for advice. And while Pagano told Mincin to “stay out of it,” Mincin did just the opposite.
He then made a meeting with President Horvath and called current Fredonia mayor Stephen Keefe.
“He just eased my mind about everything,” Mincin said. “He’s like, ‘Matt, Fred Fest is a major concern for everybody right now. Just between 20,000 property damage in one house alone landlords are getting pissed off.’”
This further encouraged Mincin to make a change.
“We conversed and we compromised,” Mincin said of Herman. “We’re trying to figure out the best way to do this.”
Keefe helped Mincin locate grounds to hold FREDstock , including opening Russell Joy Park and several other major areas. Mincin settled on the Chautauqua County Fairgrounds.
A new face to Fred Fest
With negative publicity brought to the SUNY system, such as the November Cortaca riots, stirred by the annual popular football game between SUNY Cortland and Ithaca college, and the cancelling of Brock-the-Port in 2012, there is now a new tone for college spring celebrations.
Due to the increasingly belligerent nature of Fred Fest, Fredonia students will be under a microscope this May.
“There’s a lot of red flags going on; cutting budgets, everybody’s just thinking about cancelling Fred Fest. Alcohol and drugs are just ruining everything that Fred Fest is intended to do,” Mincin said.
An article published by The Dunkirk Observer on May 16, 2013, following Fred Fest, stated “It was pointed out [that out] of the 54 tickets issued in by village police, none was to current SUNY Fredonia students. Also of the 24 tickets issued on campus only three were to Fredonia students.”
“Today, Fred Fest is not celebrated the way it was intended to and it’s not going right,” Mincin said. “And if it continues to go the way it’s been for the last few years, however many years, our generation decided to start bringing this alcohol abuse mentality to Fred Fest … it was intended to be a fun time where people enjoy music, where people enjoy spring time.”
As the Chautauqua County Fairgrounds are in Dunkirk, any emergencies will be responded to by the Dunkirk Police, which Mincin feels will lessen the burden put on the Fredonia police during Fred Fest weekend.
Mincin hopes that by drawing students away from the house party scene and to FREDstock Fred Fest will have a much brighter future. “If we don’t hold this on that weekend date then Fred Fest will occur again and Fred Fest will probably die,” Mincin said. “Because kids are just going to ruin it.”
“It’s about kind of like creating a new image for Fred Fest while also letting everybody have their fun as well because that’s going to happen regardless,” Williams added.
But how will FREDstock paint a more positive image of Fredonia to the community?
“It’s going to create that image because one, it’s more than likely going to be a dry event so we’re going to have the entire town of Fredonia, the people, I imagine 50 percent of families want to leave this town during Fred Fest because it becomes such a chaotic place,” Williams said. “So, our biggest mission is to be able to integrate the students and the community.”
As it is fenced in, Mincin feels that it is less likely to upset community members. Since it is bought property, as opposed to being in Mincin and Williams’ backyard, it was intended for this use and also features bathroom facilities.
Mincin only sees a few cons to holding the event at the Fairgrounds, including the need for a noise permit. However, in addition to pursuing the permit, he plans to hold “Silent Discos” using the technology from the Party Headphones company, founded by Fredonia alum Matt Reiners.
Mincin and Williams hope to incorporate local businesses and vendors to create a “good- feeling” atmosphere. In addition to the vendors and music, they also want to incorporate old-fashioned children’s games including potato sack racing and three legged races.
The set-up will feature various barns, where student groups and vendors will be located, so the event will be unaffected by rain. Camping areas will be provided as well.
Mixed responses
The Student Association has chosen not to support FREDstock . SA President Antonio Regulier stated this choice is due to a combination of not having the means to support it and not feeling that it enforces values that are in line with SA.
“We expressed that to him and I think he had a misconception that we supported it and it’s not that we don’t – we support his enthusiasm; however, the event itself we don’t support because we don’t have the means to support it, and we can’t do it and it’s not in line with what we’re trying to get across campus,” Regulier said in a recent interview.
“Especially with what Fred Fest has been previously been known to be and what it has become, we’re trying to kind of stray away from that stigma and those stereotypes and make this school something that’s more accepted for parents especially for enrollment questions,” he added. “When you have freshmen who for the first time are getting here and their first question is ‘what is Fred Fest?’ that’s a problem.”
While Mincin’s goal for FREDstock is to bring people away from the belligerent house party scene, Regulier feels it will add to it.
“If you look at the word ‘stock,’ the definition of it is not positive, right? That’s one. Two, you’re tying it to the brand that we’re selling, which is ‘Fred,’ so you’re calling it Fred Stock. That’s a problem within itself.
Three: students will do what they want to do, right? And we cannot control everything they do. That’s not our mission, that’s not in our job,” Regulier said. “Our job is to provide a safe environment in which students, who don’t necessarily participate in activities such as that, can feel welcomed and okay.”
Regulier feels that the current model of Fred Fest, the carnival located on Dod’s Grove, is bringing Fred Fest away from the current negative stigma.
“Don’t get me wrong, people probably went to the night life later on,” Regulier said. “But for that time being on campus, I don’t remember seeing anyone who was under any influence and everyone’s just having a good time and that’s what Fred Fest should be. It shouldn’t be about the drugs, the alcohol … it should be about feeling welcomed and loved and really making Fredonia the friendly environment that we claim it to be.”
When asked if he has any numbers to support less drug and alcohol use at last years’ Fred Fest, Regulier answered, “I mean, first of all, I didn’t attend Fred Fest sophomore year. I was working at the FSA cafeteria downstairs in Centre Pointe … so I kind of took a back-seat sophomore year, and this is my junior year so, to be honest, I don’t know exactly what was going on but I can tell you what I’ve been hearing: last year’s Fred Fest was well received by students.”
On Feb. 27 Herman addressed the SA General Assembly Meeting in regards to FREDstock. Herman also asked the general body to “tone it down” on Fred Fest and make sure their respective groups cooperate with this request.
“I sent him a long letter and he’s been talking to the fairgrounds board,” Herman said in a recent phone interview. “I’m not sure if they share the same concerns about bringing more people to the area on a weekend that’s already crazy and already very crowded.”
Herman gave additional options for Mincin to promote local bands.
“What we encouraged him to do was to have the bands that he’s interested in work with Fred Fest, Battle of the Bands and Rock the Commons,” Herman said. “So, we were saying if you have four or five bands that you want to get exposure, there’s three events that they can get involved with without creating a whole new event with all kinds of additional security.”
But instead of collaborating with Spectrum, Mincin will be chairing FREDstock independently.
“He wants to do this on his own because his major is music industry and he wants to promote this event with some bands that he works with, so that’s certainly up to him but the University will not be a part of it at the fairgrounds,” Herman said.
SA Speaker of the Assembly Justin Dickerson said in a recent interview, “Personally, I don’t really have an opinion about it, but Dr. Herman kind of pointed out the campus and community are not in a position to support something like that, and I don’t know how it would work.” Keefe, however, has shown support of FREDstock.
“I know that in the past there’s been some negative thoughts about Fred Festival and things like that and I think Matt has an idea of the positive approach to it: how to keep it fun but safe,” Keefe said in a recent phone interview. “And that’s the big secret, of how people can have good, clean, wholesome fun and not put themselves at risk.”
While Keefe is not officially involved, he has assisted Mincin in securing a location for the event.
“It’s kind of an independent venture but, you know, we need to support or not support. We encourage good, clean wholesome fun,” Keefe said. “And I think that any time the community can get together, I don’t think anybody is opposed to music, I think his idea of doing it at the fairgrounds is a great venue, so I put him in contact with people who might help him set up this project.”
“I think it [Fred Fest] should stay on campus and it should be something that people can go to and feel good and loved and appreciated and friendly as Fredonia should be,” Regulier said.
No end in sight
Despite the challenges Mincin has faced, he is continuing his plans to hold FREDstock from May 2-4 at the Chautauqua County Fairgrounds.
On March 6, the event’s Facebook page announced the first round of bands that will be performing at the event, including Honey Spine, Intrepid Travelers, Well Worn Boot, The Goods, Buxom, Inlite, Seven Central, Hokan & Friends of the Sun, Mooses, Yonic and The Chronic Collective.
FREDstock is currently being sponsored by BJ’s and the Cool Little Music Shop, with more sponsors to be announced soon. “Right now we’ve fought really hard to be where we are, so right now we’re kind of just smoothing out the edges,” Williams said.
In addition, Mincin and Williams are organizing “The Road to Fred Stock,” a local music initiative that features open mic nights at Valentine’s on Tuesday and Wednesday Nights; Williams secured booking privileges at BJ’s, and they are looking to collaborate with Rotunda Railroad Services as well. They have also created a podcast on SoundCloud titled “The Road to FREDstock.”
“This is the grand finale,” Mincin said of FREDstock. “This isn’t just it.”
New changes to the FREDstock. are being announced nearly daily on FREDstock’s Facebook page, as well as on www.fredstock.org. Mincin and Williams, and their booking agent, Dave Neimanis, meet with their planning committee every Sunday in order to see their dream come to fruition.
Currently, Mincin has a lengthy checklist to tackle in order to complete all necessary preparations in time for May 2.
“I love creating vision, a dream, a perception and chasing it and seeing it become a reality,” Mincin said.