The Tundraland Experience at Mile 4

Raising sponsorship dollars to support a community event that has grown to attract 240 artists and 50,000 people over four days is pretty serious business.

But when the presenting partner is a community-minded local company like Tundraland Home Improvements, there are sure to be lots of fun activities and surprises to be had, too.

This is Tundraland’s second consecutive year as presenting partner for the festival, which runs August 4-7 along a mile-long stretch of Downtown Appleton’s College Avenue. The company joined the Mile of Music team to pull back the shower curtain on this year’s Mile 4 at a special “Singing in the Shower” event Tuesday at the Radisson Paper Valley Hotel for media and community partners.

The 2016 festival features Appleton native and singer-songwriter Cory Chisel along with 240 artists performing 850 live sets in 70 venues including parks, restaurants and bars, coffee shops, museums and a host of public spaces.

And, thanks to the generosity of community partners like Tundraland, the entire festival is FREE!

“Tundraland really steps up and knows how to bring added value to their involvement in a community event like Mile of Music,” says festival co-founder Dave Willems. “They come up with creative ways to support and engage the community all during the festival, and it’s through their generosity that we are able to bring so much original, live music to people of all ages, all free. Events like Mile of Music just wouldn’t be possible without their support and contributions on so many levels.”

In addition to its presenting partner status, Tundraland will once again award a music scholarship if 250 event attendees sing in one of the company’s model showers at the festival.

“Music brings people together and allows people to express themselves in a very powerful way,” Brian Gottlieb, president and owner of Tundraland, says. “As a community-conscious organization, we hope our third year of offering this scholarship brings out some real stars in our local music scene.”

The winner of the scholarship will receive one full year of music lessons and the instrument of their choice from Heid Music, courtesy of Tundraland, as well as the opportunity to perform at the following year’s Mile of Music.

Recipients of previous scholarships, including the first winner, Jordan Oudenhoven, and Brooklynn Hill who won in 2015, were on hand at a Singing in the Shower event to honor Tundraland’s sponsorship support and launch the scholarship challenge. Also performing at the event were local singer-songwriter Kyle Megna, who has performed at all of the previous Mile of Music festivals and who has become an artist spokesperson for the event, and Jackson Mankowski, who at 17 is the youngest artist to perform at Mile 4.

Added fun cooked up by Tundraland and the Mile of Music team include the Tub of Tunes giveaway which will send one attendee home with a bathtub full of CDs and vinyl from Mile 4 artists, and the Tundraland Jam Room mobile stage with scheduled music and pop-up performances.

Some of Mile 4’s biggest artists will perform at the Tundraland Main Stage in Houdini Plaza, one of the festival’s most popular venues.

To learn more about Tundraland visit www.tundraland.com.

Overall, more than 100 sponsors have come together to make the music happen. “It really takes broad based support and involvement by many community-minded companies, organizations and individuals to make this festival such a great event for so many people,” Willems says. “From their commitment to music education to their dedication to keeping it a free event so that everyone who wants to participate is able to, these sponsors are the ones who make the music happen.” Major sponsors include Fox Communities Credit Union, VF Outdoor and Cypress Benefit Consultants. In addition, Stone Arch brews its artisan Mile of Music Americana Pale Ale to add to the flavor of the festival.

The Music Bus is back for another Mile of Music “road trip” with spontaneous music and fan participation. Thanks to Cypress Benefit Administrators, Fast Signs and Valley Transit, the windows again will be out of the bus and the bands will be in, as the bus runs the Mile of Music loop through the downtown every 20 minutes, loading at the drive-up lane next to the Fox Cities PAC.
Sponsored by VF Outdoor, the OuterEdge Main Stage will again host some of the most popular Mile 4 artists. The venue is located a few blocks off The Mile behind the Appleton Public Library. Early arrival at the OuterEdge is recommended as the venue fills quickly.

Active music fans can combine their bicycling and music passions in a new event, Bike to the Beat, made possible by Fox Communities Credit Union, which also is making a bike valet service available within Jones Park at the end of Rocky Bleier Run. Local non-profits are helping with the service. Kids admission to The Building for Kids will be free on Saturday during Mile of Music, thanks to Thrivent Mutual Funds. There will be music activities for the entire family.

Mile of Music is a music-first artisan festival that takes over a walkable mile in the center of Appleton, WI four days each August. This free, original music festival offers music lovers more than 825 live sets performed by 236 emerging artists in more than 70 venues from coffee shops and bars to parks and restaurants, museums and other public spaces, and offers attendees a chance to join hands-on music education experiences. The 2016 Mile of Music, dubbed Mile 4, takes place August 4-7. This grassroots festival was co-founded by Appleton marketing executive Dave Willems and Appleton/Nashville-based national recording artist and Grammy nominee Cory Chisel, with support from nearly 100 community organizations.