The show must go on: Shipyard Music Festival continues through rain

Cape Girardeau celebrated a rainy first day of fall Saturday with food, drinks, live music and colorful umbrellas at The Shipyard Music Festival at Ivers Square.

The start time for the festival was delayed one hour because of rain showers, but attendees stuck it out and waited for the bands to take the stage.

Nashville, Tennessee-based musician Ryan Corn was the first artist to perform and said he has played shows in the rain before.

�I love stuff like this, but if it�s raining, I�m probably going to stay indoors,� he said. �And I hate that, because this is an amazing festival. The stage is awesome, the lineup is great and look at all the food tents.�

Multiple tents were positioned throughout the festival perimeter to house concessions, activities, drinks and a �VIP Only� area located stage right.

Shipyard representative Mia Polhman � a writer for rustmedia, which presented the festival � said VIP ticket holders had unlimited bar access and their own tent, �which is good today.�

Mary Jane Burgers & Brew, the VIP food sponsor for the festival, was �feeding everybody in the VIP tent,� founder and owner Carisa Stark said.

�We�ve got 100 VIPs here for the concert and we�re doing our smoked brat burger,� she said.

The burger comes loaded with cheddar cheese, housemaid Saudi ole pickled onions and a corn relish on a grilled pretzel bun � with beer cheese fries on the side � and was just a taste of the available cuisine at the festival.

�These [fries] are fresh, fried and loaded up with our beer cheese dip, bacon and green onions, so we�re going to take really good care of them,� Stark said.

Cape Girardeau native Whitney Tapley, who lives close to the venue, was in attendance Saturday and said she was planning on attending the festival rain or shine.

�Somebody I knew was playing,� she said, �so I wanted to come see him and see some of the other bands. This festival is literally in my backyard.�

From the assortment of food vendors, Tapley spoke highly of the street tacos offered by local restaurant The Lemonade House Grille and its on-site food tent.

Tapley also had plans to try some of the beer fries from Mary Jane Burgers & Brew.

Cheesy fries and a brat burger from Mary Jane Burgers & Brew were the chosen foods of Vernon and Lesa McDannald from Sikeston, Missouri.

They were in attendance Saturday �to support the whole thing,� Vernon McDannald said, and have had their tickets since August.

He said they were familiar with a few of the bands before Saturday, including A Thousand Horses and Jamestown Revival.

�I hope it isn�t the last annual,� he said. �I�m all for this kind of thing. I hope they continue with it. Don�t let your first year, because of rain, kill the show.�

jhartwig@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3632