Caption: From Left, Jonnie Small, Mindy Thompson, Britt Small, Penelope the dog
Image colorized/enhanced from https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-maryville-daily-forum-festival-famil/159592466/
Festival Family Plays, Stays Together… The Festival Family’s Festival Family is like a big school with 16 students and 16 teachers learning how to do everything we need to do to survive.’ By Charlotte Medsker Forum Staff Writer
Brit Small and Festival Commune 1976″ Newspapers.com. The Maryville Daily Forum, August 27, 1976. https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-maryville-daily-forum-brit-small-and/159591995/.
“Come along and join in on the festival when your daily work is done,” says a line in a song written, arranged, and performed by members of Festival Family. Festival is a way life, a home, the reason for being the livelihood for 16 persons, living i in commune near Skidmore.
“Festival” is the name of the member band, which is the primary reason for the existence of the commune as well as the major source of livelihood for the Festival Family. Festival Farm more or less comes naturally as the name for the group’s home.
The band “Festival” was first known as “The Blue Things” when several members of the Festival Family began as a jazz group. Most of the members were students in the music department at Northwest Missouri State University. Several were fraternity brothers, while one family member was an agricultural major.
In May 1973, several members of the group left school to form Festival the Family Enterprises, Inc. As Britt Small, leader of the band and also head of the commune, puts it, “We’re not just out here monkeying around.” Several of the family members hold degrees. As a family, the group works to maintain a high level of “karma”. Each member shares his talents within the group. Each member finds what he can do best and contributes that talent for the overall good of the family.
No one is forced to do anything he does not want to do, but each person must contribute constructively to the family’s advancement. In addition to acting as head of the family and leader of the band, Small is also president of the corporation.
Mark Reinig is the assistant leader of the band, plays the drums, is vice president of the corporation, and also cocktail philosopher for the family. Becky Reinig is at the keyboard and Page serves as the corporate secretary. Mike Reinig is the band’s arranger and also plays saxophone. Don Struve is also an arranger and brass section leader. Curt Pottratz plays baritone saxophone and is also in charge of maintenance on both instruments and vehicles.
Stan Funston plays guitar, serves as an electrician and radio man, and is considered the family’s man of all knowledge, including being somewhat of a weather forecaster. Four members of the group are brothers. Les Wetzel is the business manager and plays trumpet. Maurice Wetzel is the sound man and also head of the road crew. Keith Wetzel plays trombone and lends his construction knowledge to the family’s projects on their farm.
Russell Wetzel, the youngest member of the family, might be termed the family protege. Russell was the top high school jazz trombonist in Iowa last year and is being trained by the family to be an arranger. Jonnie Small serves as wardrobe mistress and also runs the spotlight. In addition to the traveling family members, a home crew consists o of Paul Caraher, Debbie Dalzell, Pam Tenute, and Mindy Thompson. Just as with any lifestyle, a successful commune must be built on sound principles, and each individual member must do their share to make it work.
Festival Farm allows the group to live much less expensively than individuals do, giving each member much more time to devote to their music. The family members have also spent numerous hours renovating a dilapidated barn for a place to practice as well as designing and building much of their own equipment. Festival Family is a multicelled commune comprising both married couples and single individuals, forming separate families within the whole. So far, there are no children in the Festival Family. There is no rule against having children at the commune, nor any stigma attached to having children at Festival Farm, but due to the band members’ lengthy travel and the family’s economic circumstances, they feel their lifestyle is not currently conducive to good child care.
Becoming accepted within the small community was a major step for the family. In the first year, the group lived on Festival Farm, and the family members spent a great deal of time traveling and tried to maintain isolation from the surrounding towns. In the ensuing years, the group has gained the trust of its neighbors and has become an active part of the community. Family members have attended church and performed music at community services. The group played a benefit dance for the Music Mothers of Nodaway-Holt R-VII School District, they have also given benefit performances for muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis and Pi Mu Alpha Fraternity at NWMSU.
Most recently, they performed at a dance in conjunction with the Style-A-Thon, benefiting St. Jude’s Hospital, held in Maryville. This summer, the group has worked on the farm they rent from Norman Maurer in Skidmore to make their family more self-sufficient. During periods when jobs for the band are scarce, the group supplements their income with part-time work such as walking beans, hauling hay, working in a local restaurant, and teaching music. The money earned by the individual members is spent to support the entire family.
The festival has a big brass band sound. Six brass pieces are backed by an electric rhythm section and produce what Small calls a funky, disco sound. Using brass instead of backup singers produces a hard-driving type o of music with the impact of a big band. When “Festival” plays a gig, the group will play whatever the audience wants or whatever is fun. Small commented that he thinks much of today’s poor music is the product of a poor educational system.
If requested, “Festival” will play what Small calls “bad” music, but “Festival” plays it well. The inferior music classes offered in many public schools have spurred members of the group to donate their time to support organizations such as the Band Mothers. In addition to the 16 people living on Festival Farm, Festival Family has several pets, , including an English sheep dog named Penelope, several horses and a milk cow.
Currently “Festival”‘ is en route to Canada. The group will spend six weeks there, opening next week in St. John, New Brunswick, where they will be promoting their album, “Festival,” which is selling well. As Festival Family can state, a successful commune is one where the members have multiple “Each person draws from his own tricks and finds what he best,” said Small. “Festival F is like a big school with 16 students, teachers learning how to do what we need to do to survive,” said Stop by and C called there. Demon relies on roles. own bag can do Family is and 16 everything Small.
