How it Started
My hMAG partners and I launched the festival back in 2011 as a offshoot of hMAG. We'd just published our music issue of the magazine in which we highlighted Hoboken's love affair with great music - it was obvious to us that Hoboken, like Brooklyn, had a thriving music scene, one that needed to be fed.
Hoboken's Pier A - which stretches out into the Hudson - was the ideal location for this idea, as it painted an incredible shot, with the NYC skyline as a backdrop.
The Festival
In its first year, the all-day, outdoor festival had over 5,000 attendees. Headlined by The Walkmen and School of Seven Bells, the free event was composed of 8 live bands, food trucks, a NJ Devils sponsored Family area, as well as local food and crafts vendors with businesses in Hoboken. Sponsors included NY Daily News, the Prudential Center, NJ Devils, GBX, and Ben & Jerry's.
In its second year, the attendance grew to 8,000, included an outdoor Biergarden, and was headlined by the Tokyo Police Club, and hosted by MTV's Matt Pinfield.
The Work
I, along with my partners, designed all promotional collateral for the festival, including posters that ran in NY/NJ Path train stations. We also launched a website promoting the acts and used it to acquire sponsors and vendors.
We used our creative agency staff to do all of the production work. Beyond that, it was truly a collective labor of love, with the City of Hoboken and the Hoboken Police all playing crucial roles. As with the magazine, our goal was to always give back to the city and continue to help put it on the map.
Closing Thoughts
The festival brought new sponsorship opportunities to the magaizne, hMAG, as well as new clients to the creative agency, Tisha Creative. Being part of its conception and seeing it through was an exhilirating experience. One of the highlights for me was getting to meet an old MTV hero of mine - VJ and music historian, Matt Pinfield.
Lackwanna Music Festival was eventually sold off as part of a package deal with hMAG, the company I co-founded. You can learn more about my work with hMAG here.
