Hastings had a busy musical weekend on September 14. Rivertown Live with Little Texas and Diamond Rio capped off the evening with a ton of hits, while Veterans Fest at United Heroes League kicked things off for a day filled with great music.
Home Free began in 2007 in Mankato, Minnesota, eventually earning a spot on NBC’s The Sing-Off in 2013, where they won the $100,000 grand prize and a recording contract with Sony. Their first album, Crazy Life, was released in February of 2014.
Tim Foust, the bass vocalist for the a cappella group Home Free and the man behind the music of Tim Foust and Friends, sat down with us to talk about the origination of Veterans Fest just four years ago. Foust had been brainstorming with his manager during the pandemic in 2020, realizing that people desperately missed live music.
“It was honestly cool to kind of have that perspective, and you always kind of knew it, but to actually witness how important live music is to people, and how it's like a lifeblood for some people. It put a lot of things in perspective, and it made us realize just how fortunate we are to do what we do and to be able to give that gift to people,” explained Foust.
That realization and brainstorming session led to what Foust called Backyard Bashes, where fans could bid on a backyard concert. The winner was able to have Tim Foust and Friends come to their backyard, put on a concert, and then leave.
Due to safety rules in place for the pandemic, they unfortunately had to enforce no interaction with fans in the backyard; fans had to stay 20 feet back from the stage. The band would just show up, play, and leave.
The message from Foust and the band was, “We're going to show up, we're going to set up, we're going to sing, and then we're going to tear down and drive away. So, if that's worth it to you, we'll do it. I didn't think people would go for this.”
Foust laughed but then explained just how much the idea blew up. Each year, Tim Foust and Friends do a concert on his birthday, and they continue the Backyard Bash. The group has become more popular, despite Foust's initial doubts about its viability. They began playing smaller town festivals, which led to an interaction with Scooter Merrier, an owner of a pontoon business in rural Wisconsin.
“They work so hard and do so much for veterans and military families. They had been working with Every Third Saturday for quite a few years. They've got a team of ladies over there with Wisconsin quilting around the clock full-time to be able to donate quilts to homeless veterans and stuff like that,” Foust explained.
That conversation about Every Third Saturday expanded to wanting to help at-risk veterans, eventually leading Merrier to talk to Foust about what he had been doing with Tim Foust and Friends.
“He said, ‘How would you feel about starting a Veterans Fest in Wisconsin to raise money for veterans?’ And I said, ‘Absolutely, sign me up.’ So, we partnered with a bowling alley over there, Strike Time Lanes in Neillsville, Wisconsin, and it just happens that there's an amazing veterans memorial there as well, called the High Ground. So, it was kind of the perfect spot to do it really. We did that for three years in a row and watched it grow and grow and grow. We knew at some point we wanted to move it over here to the Twin Cities, where we had more resources and where Home Free was based for many, many years. We also knew at some point we wanted to get Home Free involved in this. But that's a whole other ball of wax,” he added.
That "ball of wax" he referred to meant a huge jump in production needs—a large stage, tour bus, semis, etc.—and they were unsure if they were ready for that kind of production. He thought it would be another five or six years before getting Home Free involved, until he talked to Merrier.
“I made the mistake of mentioning to Scooter that one of these years we should get Home Free involved. He said, ‘Let's do it now.’ That's just the kind of guy he is. So fortunately, Every Third Saturday partnered with United Heroes League, and all of a sudden, we've got way more resources. And then, of course, we now have this amazing campus, so it's only going to get better. For all intents and purposes, this is year one of Veterans Fest being based right here in the Twin Cities. It’s amazing to watch what happened between year three and year four. I think we had about 300 people in the gravel parking lot of a bowling alley in rural Wisconsin last year, and now we've got about 1,000 people on this beautiful campus, and we’ve brought in food trucks, and we have a whole bunch of bands performing. We kicked it off the way we've kicked off every Veterans Fest—with Tim Foust and Friends—and then I'm going to come back on and headline with Home Free,” said Foust.
Foust was overwhelmed by the steps that Veterans Fest had taken in just four short years. They started playing on a flatbed trailer for a stage, and now to be part of an event the size of year four was very surreal for him, but he is excited to give back.
“It’s really touching to see just how people come together to support an event like this and give back to our veterans. They give us so much; this is the least we can do,” he said.
Foust believes they will return to Hastings and the United Heroes League campus to play again, and if the main sponsor has anything to say about it, the contract is likely in the works already.
One final note from Foust had him smiling from ear to ear: “I'm going to put this out into the universe and hope that it manifests. Home Free has been fortunate to collaborate with Lee Greenwood in the past, also a very charitably-minded fellow who loves our military. During the pandemic, we did a version of ‘God Bless the USA’ with him and the U.S. Air Force Singing Sergeants. My dream is to get Lee Greenwood involved in this event at some point; we might have to move fast—he's 81 years old. We actually just did a show with him two nights ago. He doesn't seem like he's slowing down, but, you know, I'm sure at some point in time he's going to want to retire and ride off into the sunset to spend some time with his family. So, before that happens, I just said it. If Scooter hears this, he'll probably try to make it happen next year. But how cool would that be if we got Lee Greenwood involved in this?”
That would be very cool.
The concert itself was very entertaining, with Tim Foust and Friends kicking things off. Local Hastings band Fist Full of Ladies then had a set, followed by regional act Rosewood. Home Free finished the concert strong with many entertaining a cappella covers of hit songs from all walks of music. They are definitely a group to see if you have the chance.
Keep an eye on www.veteransfest.com for next year’s concert details. Thank you to Tim Foust for spending some time with us to tell this awesome story.