For Dayton By Dayton festival to spotlight local music, food

K.Carter is a busy man. The rapper is currently working on a documentary and his third musical release of 2021, but he’s still found time to celebrate hometown talent with the second For Dayton By Dayton. The family-friendly festival, at RiverScape MetroPark in Dayton on Saturday, Aug. 14, features a diverse array of talent such as folk duo the Nautical Theme, roots rockers the New Old-Fashioned and rappers Eman Jones and Atlas.

Carter sat down recently at the Barrel House to answer some questions about the festival.

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Q: What was the original concept for this festival?

A: In my eyes, it’s a citywide house party. We’ve got a lot of festivals that come into town and it’s always artists from other cities and other states. We have enough talent here and a diverse music scene that we can have our own festival. I wanted it to be all local — local vendors, local food trucks and local artists — that way everybody in the city can support everybody in the city.

Q: How did the first year go?

A: It went well. More people showed up than I expected. Hopefully it continues to grow this year. It’s family-friendly and it’s a free event so anybody can just walk up and enjoy the music. We’re blocking off Monument Street and that’s where all the food trucks will be. We’ll have all the vendors set up and then we’ll have a separate section for the artists that have merch to sell.

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Q: Did you have the second one booked for 2020?

A: Yeah, I did. I had all of the artists set up and I had a lot of the vendors set up, too. We just couldn’t promote it because we didn’t know what was going to happen. Then, around May, MetroParks said we’d have to push it back. We could’ve pushed it back to October, but I didn’t want to do that so I decided to wait until this year.

Q: It’s an eclectic lineup. Was that by design?

A: Yeah, I have a diverse music lineup because I know how hard it is to get hip-hop into downtown Dayton. You see rock shows all over, but you don’t see a lot of hip-hop shows. This is my way of showing you can put on a multi-genre show, do it together and everything still works. It’s also to let the City of Dayton know even though it’s not all hip-hop, hip-hop is driving this festival and bringing these different cultures together.

Contact this contributing writer at 937-287-6139 or e-mail at donthrasher100@gmail.com.

HOW TO GO

What: For Dayton By Dayton festival with the Nautical Theme, Eman Jones, the New Old-Fashioned, Atlas and others

Where: RiverScape MetroPark, 237 E. Monument St., Dayton

When: 4 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 14

Cost: Free

More info: 4dbdayton.com

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About the Author

Don Thrasher

Don Thrasher, a native of Gadsden, Alabama, has been a weekly contributor for the Dayton Daily News since 2003. He covers national and international music, performance and art. Don is a versatile writer, who has interviewed ballet dancers, professional athletes, authors, comedians, filmmakers, rodeo clowns and other disparate figures.