After 36 years as an annual outdoor festival near the campus of Greenville College in Illinois, the 2014 Agapefest will move to the Family Arena in St. Charles, Missouri. Years of battling horrid weather conditions of rain and mud at the Bond County Fairgrounds led to looking to an indoor facility to help keep concertgoers dry and safe. There are plenty of reasons to head over the state border to attend.
The lineup continues to grow
At this time, as of March 5, the list of acts continues to expand. The latest updates can be found at the Agapefest website. As of now, the list includes Francesca Battistelli, Sanctus Real, The Afters, Rhett Walker Band and The Madison Letter. Previous years, the headliners included Toby Mac, Skillet, Audio Adrenaline, Hawk Nelson and Owl City.
The Battle of the Bands winners from Greenville College will perform
As with every year of the event, the Battle of the Bands winners perform live at the event. At this time, the selection committee is still in the process of narrowing down the bands to perform at a Battle of the Bands event at the college on April 5. The selections of the bands performing for that event will be announced on March 21. Of the top two winners, the runner-up will perform at an outdoor stage on the Family Arena grounds and the top winner will perform on the main stage.
The event is now a one-day, all-day event
Moving the event indoors also necessitated the move from a two day outdoor event to a one day event. This movement to one day helps families with some costs, such as not having to stay in hotels overnight and packing more items for a longer trip just to come to the event. Also, the cost of driving back and forth twice is eliminated for local festival attendees.
The Family Arena helps define Agapefest as family-friendly
Moving to the Family Arena was also a great idea because the name backs the idea that this is a family-friendly event. All of the bands are Christian-based and many of the booths will also be filled with ministries displaying Christian, moral values. In the three previous experiences that I’ve been at the event, great fellowship, friendship and many new long-term bonds are made at the events.
Still the top student-based Christian festival staff
The staff of the event is all students from Greenville College in Illinois. The students plan all aspects of the events from contacting bands and coordinating event logistics to promoting the festival and forming ministry partnerships, according to the Agapefest website.
For more information, check out agapefest.com
