STL Fest is back for its fourth year on Sunday at The Big Top. The event starts with a family-friendly (and free!) block party all afternoon, and it ends with an ages 21-and-over ticketed show with local and national heavy hitters onstage. Yung Joc and Rocko are the headliners, with Koko C’Vere, Big Homie Spitta, Rahli, and more, including artist and event co-founder Shorty a.k.a. Reggie Son.
“STL Fest is a celebration of St. Louis music, culture, and community,” he says. “It’s a beautiful time for the city right now when it comes to music locally and nationally, camaraderie, development and connecting.”
Reggie Son and co-founders Kelann Campbell, Michael White, and Eric Hubbard first tossed around the idea of a festival when Jamo Presents started producing socially distanced concerts inside City Foundry in early 2021. “I told the guys, ‘We gotta do something bigger than a party or concert—we gotta make this a festival!’” he recalls. “When I said it, I didn’t even realize what all would have to go into it.”
The first STL Fest, headlined by Murphy Lee of the St. Lunatics, was a ringing success. Attendees kept asking about the next one, so it became an annual event with support from the Kranzberg Arts Foundation, Jamo Presents, STLMade, and more.
Hosting the event during a holiday weekend is a strategic choice, Reggie Son says. Plenty of St. Louisans who moved away will be in town visiting, and the folks who live here might enjoy having a destination event in town—it’s a homecoming of sorts.
Keeping the daytime part family-friendly is an important part of his vision as well. From noon–5 p.m., enjoy games, food, vendors, music, the Annie Malone Youth Zone, a car show, and more. The 8-year-old phenom Prince Karter will also perform at the block party, as well as DMC Dance Team, Be.Be. The Neo Soul, Ty Glizzy, and other great artists. Then, for the evening concert, tickets start at $40, with premium and VIP options available.
“It’s really the people who give us the motivation,” says Reggie Son. “More than any headliner, it’s all about the energy, the love of the city, and the people of the city. It’s all about the experience.”
