Shipyard Music Festival hooks crowd of area residents, travelers

At its essence, a shipyard is a place where vessels and people of the world collide.

Shipyard Music Festival is no different.

Shipyard set sail Friday at Century Casino Cape Girardeau, drawing a crowd mixed with area residents and travelers.

Kayla Gisseman of St. Roberts, Missouri, drove to Cape Girardeau to attend Shipyard. Friday night was her first time in Cape. She came to see one of her favorite bands, Motherfolk, with her three young children.

At the festival Friday night, Gisseman and her children braided friendship bracelets at an activity station while they waited for Motherfolk to play at 7 p.m.

"I love that this is family friendly," Gisseman said. "We're always down for good music and good people."

Shipyard Music Festival began Friday evening with opening acts Roanoke and Ivas John and Jason Heeter. The German Cook, Mary Jane bourbon + smokehouse and several other vendors served their signature eats.

Rustmedia project and event manager Jamie Phillips called Shipyard "the region's biggest party." This year's attendance surpassed 2,000 ticket sales.

The festival features national and local music acts. Many bands -- from Nashville-based Wild Feathers to Texan indie rockers, The Unlikely Candidates -- have followings from all over the country, according to Phillips.

"We'll get people from as far as Georgia and California," Phillips said.

Shipyard has become a mainstay for local residents as well. Perryville, Missouri, native and Litchfield, Illinois, teacher Lydia Cook heard about the festival through a friend, whom Cook decided to volunteer for the event with.

Cook never attended a music festival before Shipyard. She said she felt southeast Missouri lacked events like it.

"I never grew up going to things like this," Cook said.

Johnston, Illinois, natives Gary and Dianna Brown were no strangers to Cape Girardeau either.

They've visited the city several times, but attended Shipyard for the first time this year after Dianna Brown won tickets from a contest with Z2000 radio station.

The Browns were some of the first to set up chairs in front of Shipyard's main stage Friday night.

"Music is our jam, and we're excited to hear all of the different genres," Dianna Brown said before the music started Friday.

For St. Louisan Erin Higgins, Shipyard's music is just as important as the town it's played in.

Higgins first attended Shipyard in 2019 as a student at Southeast Missouri State University. She came back to Cape for the festival on Friday along with her friend, Stacey Atwater of Kansas City.

"We really enjoyed it last time and liked listening to bands we'd never heard of before," Higgins said. "I lived here [downtown] for five years, and if I find any reason to come down here, I will."

For some Shipyard attendees, the music is what reels them in, but the community is what makes them come back, according to Phillips.

"A lot of people found a band during Shipyard's first year and liked the hospitality Cape showed them, so they've been back two or three years now," Phillips said.