What's next for Middle Waves Music Festival? We have details.
![What's next for Middle Waves Music Festival? We have details.](/content/images/size/w960/2023/05/MW2022boardandcommittee-1.jpg)
In Des Moines, Iowa, the popular 80/35 Music Festival brings an estimated 30,000 people to Downtown every year. When a small, passionate team of Fort Wayne volunteers learned about it, they developed the concept for the local Middle Waves Music Festival in 2016, modeled on 80/35’s success.
Beth McAvoy, the most recent Co-Chair of Middle Waves, was part of that first year’s planning committee. She recalls getting advice from 80/35’s team and putting in countless hours to launch Fort Wayne’s own multi-day, multi-stage, destination music festival.
“Middle Waves was really groundbreaking for Fort Wayne in 2016, in a lot of ways,” McAvoy says. “Stuff like this was not happening in the city at the time, and it has been entirely run by volunteers.”
![](https://www.thelocalfw.com/content/images/2023/05/MW_YTG_CaseyMurray_12.jpg)
Thanks to the hard work of McAvoy and the rest of the Middle Waves team, the festival has hosted four, two-day music events in Fort Wayne in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2022—drawing up to 5,000 festival-goers at its height and bringing artists, like Lizzo (2018), to town before they made it big. Historically, it has been an all-ages event held at Headwaters Park or the Foellinger Theatre campus with both paid tickets and free components. Its musical lineup focuses on the convergence of indie, hip-hop and rock and roll, alongside art, food and drink vendors.
But maintaining a festival of this size and caliber has been challenging for a team of volunteers. In 2019, they took a year off to recalibrate the event’s schedule and location. Then the COVID-19 pandemic forced Middle Waves to cancel its events in 2020 and 2021. When the team returned in 2022, they felt like it was time for a change, McAvoy says.
Become a FREE member to continue reading.
Get access to all of our original stories and newsletter by subscribing below.