Local Looks: Buzzards and Bees music festival in Provo was a graveyard smash | News, Sports, Jobs

Saturday night marked the fifth anniversary for the downtown Provo Halloween music festival called Buzzards and Bees. Created by Alex Vaughn, Corey Fox, Dean Cheesman and Paul Nahrwold, this event is the perfect mix of festive activities and shines a light on some of the best music that Utah has to offer. Featuring over 70 local bands and 10-plus venues around downtown Provo, it’s a great way to spend an evening seeing all that Provo has to offer in both music and activities.

Each venue had artists and bands that fell under a specific genre. This year, Velour featured indie rock, Dry Bar had folk rock/Americana, A-Frame showcased soul pop/rock, and many more venues featured more genres. Buzzards and Bees does a great job of creating a schedule and map for festivalgoers so they can map out who they want to see and where they want to go. While it might be tempting to choose a venue and stay there all night, there are so many talented artists in each venue.

This year’s lineup featured Summer Battle of the Bands winner Local Kin performing at the Dry Bar. Local Kin is a folk band from the Salt Lake City area and is getting ready to release their newest single, “Rust,” in November. Band members are encouraged to dress up for this event so Local Kin came as scarecrows. Fans were spread throughout the venue dancing and stomping along to their set. Other performers included Caysn Wright, who brings a more indie-pop sound to the scene; The LoveStrange, returning to the stage after a six year hiatus; and many more talented performers.

To end the night at Velour were Lantern By Sea and headliner Cardinal Bloom. Lantern By Sea went on first, dressed in ghost masks to promote some of their acoustic song releases from their “Rim of the World” album. Many fans indicated through cheers that this was their first time hearing them perform and they put on a great performance with lots of songs fitting the darker Halloween vibe before ending their set with the appropriately titled song “Ghost Story.”

Cardinal Bloom was on last as the headliner and ended the night in a full party. Dressing up as the Powerpuff Girls, the crowd cheered loudly in support. The band even passed out candy to the crowd to home in on the Halloween spirit. Cardinal Bloom won the 2021 Winter Battle of the Bands and they are definitely ones to watch. Something special they did during this performance was tell the crowd that one of their local fans was in a car accident and was badly injured. The fans’ family had provided the band with bracelets to sell during their show and the band promised to match whatever proceeds they made selling the bracelets at the show. Not only are they great musicians but very thoughtful people as well. They ended the night with a lot of energy and they were the perfect pick for this year’s headlining band.

Buzzards and Bees has been going strong for five years and hopefully it continues to be a Provo tradition. With a goth prom the night before, a music festival the following day and attendees encouraged to wear their spookiest costumes, it really is a fun, family-friendly event for all. Even the venues do their best to decorate accordingly. If you like Halloween, music or the charm of downtown Provo, this is an event for you.

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