Tonight we make our way to LouFest 2017 and the city of St. Louis is opening the festival weekend with LouFestU; a party honoring Chuck Berry for college students!  New features have been added in lieu of tonight’s opening presentations.  Here are the deets:

More special guests added to Hail! Hail! Chuck Berry! lineup:

Huey Lewis has joined the star-studded lineup for Hail! Hail! Chuck Berry!, a celebration honoring the father of Rock N’ Roll to take place at the eighth-annual LouFest on Saturday, September 9 at 8 p.m. Festival producers have also announced that St. Louis native Bryan Greenberg and Chris Chew will join the lineup, with special appearances from members of the Berry family, including Charles Berry III and Jahi Eskridge.

LouFest partners with Chuck Berry Foundation, Kranzberg Arts Foundation to support local arts:

As announced last week, LouFest is working with the Berry family and the newly formed Chuck Berry Foundation to support arts and music education. Ultimately, the Foundation, with the help of LouFest, will work to honor the legacy of Chuck Berry by nurturing the next generation of music innovators and leaders in the St. Louis community. To help further advance this mission, LouFest has also partnered with the Kranzberg Arts Foundation – which is committed to providing the essential infrastructure necessary for the arts to thrive in St. Louis – to help produce Hail! Hail! Chuck Berry! at LouFest 2017 and provide ongoing professional opportunities for local artists and musicians.

“Kranzberg Arts Foundation is thrilled to partner with LouFest to enhance our musicians residency program to include increased opportunities both on and off the stage,” said Chris Hansen, Executive Director of Kranzberg Arts Foundation. “This will include new live performance opportunities within LouFest and other satellite events; professional consultations with major agencies, management houses, and legal companies within the recording and live music industries; and new publishing opportunities, all with the goal to help establish new sustainable income sources and industry access for local St. Louis talent.”

LouFest U lineup released:

The full LouFest U lineup has been released, featuring artists Whethan, Smino, Vesperteen, Arshad Goods, and Tidal Volume, as well as two guest speakers. LouFest U is a free festival for area university students produced in partnership with the St. Louis Regional Chamber. The event will be held Friday, September 8, 2017 from 4 to 10 p.m. and will kick off LouFest weekend at the Upper Muny Grounds and Festival Plaza in Forest Park.

If you want to follow us this weekend on our first-time venture to LouFest check me out on IG @artand.sol 

and Snapchat!

 See you soon St. Louis!