Whatever happened to the Riverview Music Festival?

Something has been conspicuously missing from Central Iowa’s fall festival lineup for the past two years.

The Riverview Music Festival was held in Des Moines for the first, and likely last, time Sept. 4-5, 2021. The fest was focused on providing musical entertainment to underserved demographics in the neighborhoods around Riverview Park.

The lineup included Sudan Archives (which returned to play the 80/35 Music Festival this past summer), Duckwrth (whose music includes “Start a Riot,” featured in the 2018 Oscar winner Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) and the Grammy-nominated hip-hop duo EarthGang, among others.

The event was organized by the Des Moines Music Coalition, which, at the time, hinted at intentions to bring the festival back in future years.

“If we needed to have both [80/35 and Riverview] festivals, we could,” DMMC president Kuuku Saah told the Des Moines Register in advance of the first festival, “but it will depend on what the reception is. So if there’s a strong enough community reception for [Riverview], we’ll be in a position to bring it back.”

However, about six months after the inaugural Riverview Music Fest, Tanner Briggs Faaborg — a former board member of the Parks Area Foundation, the primary concessionaire of Riverview Park — resigned.

Following his departure, Faaborg alleged that the bias of a few elected officials heavily discouraged the programing of hip-hop music in Riverview Park. Those individuals, according to Faarborg, were Des Moines City Councilperson Linda Westergaard and Polk County Supervisor Tom Hockensmith, as Axios reported in November.

Hockensmith’s current term expires in 2026. Westergaard is seeking a third term as Des Moines’ second ward representative this November, with her current term set to end on Jan. 2. Running against Westergaard are Bridget Botkin and Chelsea Lepley.

Speaking with Little Village in December, Westergaard claimed that, in March of 2022, Faaborg didn’t have sponsors or bands signed up for Rendezvous on Riverview (a series distinct from the Riverview Music Festival).

“There were problems with the Parks Area Foundation board. People didn’t like what Tanner was doing,” Westergaard said. “He was kind of out there doing his own thing — I guess, I don’t know, I’m not on the board so I can’t tell you what any of those meetings were.”

Westergaard added that she doesn’t have “anything to do with Parks Area Foundation,” and that it is only because the event took place in her district, and ostensibly received complaints, that she had any involvement.

“You gotta have music– there’s all kinds of hip-hop music that– my grandkids listen to hip hop music. They don’t have to listen to ‘fuck’ every other word,” Westergaard said. “And, I don’t know, apparently, that’s what, that’s what happened at one concert, at least the calls that I got, and the calls that the city got.”

Faarborg’s letter alleges Westergaard and Hockensmith had a more active role in dissuading the booking of hip-hop performers at Riverview Park.

“Councilmember Westergaard and Supervisor Hockensmith’s response to my concern was that hip hop was ‘not appropriate for the venue’ and does not represent the ‘family values and traditions’ that our stakeholders expect for the public concert series,” he wrote, alleging that he received “strong opposition from the City Council and Polk County representatives” after expressing intent to bring local musician B. Well to Rendezvous on Riverview, and saying he was “told explicitly that there should be no hip hop permitted at Riverview.”

“I again asked for clarification on this viewpoint. Supervisor Hockensmith then expressed his ‘disgust’ for the 2022 Super Bowl halftime show, and cited it as an example of why hip-hop acts should not be held at Riverview. He added that the genres’ use of lyrics which speak out against the police were another reason to not allow hip hop.”

In speaking with Little Village, Westergaard did not overtly disparage hip hop as a genre and refuted Faarborg’s claim that B. Well was mentioned in the meeting at all. Westergaard did speak on the necessity that the event be “family friendly.” When asked to define “family friendly,” she said: “If you could walk into Target and buy it. If you could walk into Walmart and buy it.”

Whether or not Westergaard and Hockensmith expressed as active an opposition to hip hop as Faaborg wrote, no follow-up to Riverview has been announced.

Saah spoke broadly to the dangers of writing off a whole genre of music.

“Essentially telling a significant part of the community that they don’t belong — that is powerfully negative,” he said, also alluding to how — for much of the 20th century — jazz, another genre of music that emerged from the African American community, was considered uncouth and disruptive. “That constant reinforcement that you do not belong here; that’s hurtful.”

Saah further recalled that, as DMMC was getting Riverview off the ground, some potential sponsors shied away from the event out of concern that the hip hop festival — set to be held in the largest city in the state — was “too urban.” Saah added that this wasn’t limited to programming the Riverview Music Festival.

“With 80/35, we’re asked by police if we’re going to do hip hop and [if we] say yes, the security requirements increase right away,” he said.

It’s not yet apparent how things will unfold in future years for Together Through Sound, which describes itself as “a collection of diverse genres” playing on the Prairie Meadows Riviera Stage, where the Riverview Music Festival was held. The inaugural Together Through Sound, organized by the aforementioned B. Well, was held on Sept. 10 and featured music genres from classical to Latin to jazz to hip hop.

“I would say that we have to do the first [festival] to hopefully get to the second one and then go to the drawing board and get feedback from the musicians,” he added. “I think to have something annually in that part of town that has been neglected would be really beautiful.”

This article was originally published in Little Village’s September 2023 issue.