Musicians playing unique instruments will perform outside an Arnold-area bar this weekend to help collect money to support military veterans.
The 13th annual Cigar Box Guitar Music Festival will be held from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, May 30, outside the 21 Rock Grill and Bar, 1 Meramec Heights Shopping Center, west of Arnold.
John Mary Go Round, which will perform during the festival, will provide a sneak preview of cigar box guitar music the night before the festival. He is scheduled to perform from 7-10 p.m. Friday, May 29, at 21 Rock.
The St. Louis Cigar Box Guitar Club organizes the festival, which is free to attend. The club will hold raffles for at least 10 cigar box guitars to collect money for 6 String Heroes, which is a program that provides guitars to military veterans and first responders who are recovering from addiction and mental health issues.
The club also will hold a raffle for a whole hog from High on the Hog Custom Meats of Dittmer.
This will be the second year the festival, which previously was held at the Hwy. 61 Roadhouse in Webster Groves, will be held in the Arnold area.
“We are looking forward to this,” said Russell Wellington, a St. Louis Cigar Box Guitar Club member. “It’s awesome to see people engage with their newfound love for cigar box guitars. It is a new thing to a lot of people.”
Wellington said about 750 people attended last year’s festival, and the club collected about $4,000 for 6 String Heroes.
“Veterans need support, that is the bottom line,” said Wellington, 67, of Arnold, who served in the Navy. “It is important to raise money for them. As the motto says for 6 String Heroes, ‘Healing wounded veterans one guitar at a time,’ that is what we rally around, helping the vets.”
Along with John Mary Go Round, performers scheduled to play during the festival include Cody and the Chameleons, In the Key of Kiersi, Dean Dostal, Devin C. Williams, Pallin’ with Al and Taven Lewis. The Blues Juggler, a comedy-juggling act, also will perform between music sets, which will each last about 45 minutes throughout the day.
The Fleetwood Family is scheduled to perform from 7-10 p.m. inside 21 Rock after the festival concludes.
Wellington said performers will play a mix of original and cover songs from genres that include blues, classic rock, country and gospel. He said performers will mix in using cigar box guitars with traditional instruments.
The festival also will feature a bounce house and about 20 vendors, who will be selling items such as cigar box guitars, amps, wood-carved items, jewelry, T-shirts, baked goods, lemonade, plants and knives.
Wellington said High on the Hog will sell barbecue items during the festival.
For more information about the festival, go to the St. Louis Cigar Box Guitar Club’s Facebook page or email russewell.w@gmail.com.