By Brandon Martin
On what would’ve been Rooster Walk 12 weekend, the fields at Pop’s Farm were a little emptier this year, but festival goers were still able to be “All Cooped Up” together thanks to the May 23 livestream hosted by Rooster Walk Inc.
The event was simulcast on Facebook, YouTube and the Rooster Walk website. Fans were treated to archival musical sets, remote sets and live sets from Lake Stage at Pop’s Farm.
Executive Director Johnny Buck said there were a few hiccups leading up to the event due to the novelty of the live streaming, but it “wound up going really well” thanks to their community partners.
“All Cooped Up” began with a May 28, 2017 set performed by Yarn at Rooster Walk 9. The set titled “Yarn Gets Stoned,” was a special tribute to The Rolling Stones. Kendall Street Company headlined the main stage after Isaac Hadden Project & Friends performed a 90-minute tribute set to The Grateful Dead.
Live attendees were also joined by Travis Book, Nick McDaniels, Paul Hoffman, Anders Beck and Violet Bell, who all performed remote sets from their own homes.
Buck said that he received a lot of positive feedback from fans worldwide who said “they didn’t know how much they needed it.” He said as long as the constraints of the coronavirus still persist then it’s possible that they could host more live streams in the future.
Based on his most recent numbers, Buck said that the Facebook stream had approximately 12,000 views and their YouTube page had received another approximate 2,000 views.
The livestream was sponsored by Martinsville Made and VisitMartinsville, and thanks to the presenting sponsors, fans from all across the country and worldwide were treated to commercials highlighting the local area, which Buck found to be “legitimately really cool.”
Rooster Walk was originally organized by Buck and Operations Director William Baptist as a way of honoring the memory of their childhood friends Edwin “The Rooster” Penn IV and Walker Shank. Since the first festival, the event has become a community stable. Part of the proceeds of the event go to the Penn-Shank Memorial Scholarship Fund, which is awarded to a high school student at their alma mater, Martinsville High School.
To view the livestream, volunteer, or find out how to donate visit www.roosterwalk.com.
