APPLETON (NBC 26) — The annual independent music festival kicked off its 12th "Mile" — a.k.a year — on Thursday, bringing more than 700 musical acts to downtown Appleton over four days.
"Every year I end up playing to new people. You know, even though I live here and I've been to every [Mile of Music], I get to see new faces every year," said Christopher Gold, singer-songwriter.
Gold has performed at every Mile of Music since its inception in 2013. The Appleton native says it's something he looks forward to annually because it elevates his music career.
"It means everything. Like, it's how I'm able to keep doing this independently. Is because people come to shows and festivals like this, book me, and people pick up a t-shirt or a record," Gold said.
For independent artists like Gold, community support is crucial to their success.
"It means a lot to me that people still support independent music. And are almost sort of drawn to it more than like the big budget kind of stuff quite a bit," Gold said.
Mile of Music features exclusively independent artists, with performances happening simultaneously across dozens of venues along College Avenue. If you miss one performance, you can easily find another one nearby.
The Madison-based band Bascom Hill performed a pop-up concert in the Hilton Appleton Paper Valley Hotel lobby. Band members Scott Cannaday, Jason Sheridan and Charles Gasser are festival veterans.
"The community here is spectacular. So, you can sit and play a show and you can hear a pin drop because everyone is so into the music. And it's just not something you see anywhere else," the band members said.
The group has become well-known in the area during the festival.
"We're famous in Appleton. This is the only place where we can go walking down the street and people recognizing us. We call it getting 'rockignized,'" they said.
Even the artists themselves are fans of each other, attending performances when they're not on stage. Bascom Hill plans on seeing Meaghan Farrell, Megan Slankard, Stephen Kellogg and Will Hogg, while Christopher Gold popped in to see one of Jordan Smart's first performances.
The free music festival runs through Sunday in downtown Appleton. More information on artists and set lists is available here.
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