Food Aid, a two-day musical festival is back for a third year and at a new location but the cause remains the same: to fight food insecurity in areas where it is often invisible.
The new location is Robert’s Westside in Forest Park. This year, the Aug. 23 fundraiser will be headlined by singer-songwriter “Choctaw Bingo” singer James McMurtry and Lydia Loveless.
Donnie Biggins, the owner of Robert’s Westside, and the event promotor, said he is excited to bring his fundraiser to his own venue for the first time, as it is a cause he said he is passionate about.
“During the pandemic, there were a lot of organizations that I wanted to help support and, like, be active with,” Biggins said. “I found myself kind of overwhelmed with all the different causes and things that we … wanted to support, my wife Anna and I. And so I just decided that I would concentrate on food insecurity.”
It was a way, he said, to make a direct impact on his community.
Biggins noted that extreme hunger is often not visible and thus far more widespread than many people realize. “It’s not [a problem exclusive to] low-income housing. It’s affecting middle-class, and a lot of, people,” he said, adding that it has been made worse by inflation.
“It’s harder to pay for everything and it’s harder to provide for your family,” he said. Food Aid was first held at the School of Rock in Oak Park and Austin’s Kehrein Center for the Arts. The following year it was hosted by Exit Strategy Brewing Company and Scoville Park.
Anthony Clark, a local activist who helps maintain the Unity Fridges that offer 24/7 access to food around Chicagoland, teamed up with Biggins to organize the first festival and his nonprofit is still a beneficiary.
Cook County’s Beyond Hunger, A House in Austin, Austin Eats Initiative, Best of Proviso Township and Westchester Food Pantry also will receive proceeds from the event.
“We hope to build off last year’s success, which exceeded all expectations,” said WBEZ senior event producer, Eddie Medrano. “We plan to expand and make a real-world impact in even more neighborhoods.” News radio station WBEZ is a sponsor of the show.
In past years, Food Aid has generated thousands of dollars – $11,000 in 2023 – for six agencies serving the greater metropolitan area.
The music festival has a solid history of attracting top-line acts. Previous performers at Food Aid have included Kara Jackson and the O’Mys, Chicago-based soul singer Mary Lane, Fleetwood Mac tribute band Second Hand News, Biggins’s group The Shams, and Cheryl Tomblin. Tomblin will perform again this year.
Other performers this year include Nikki Morgan, Frankie Lloyd and Anne Harris.
This year’s headliner, McMurtry, said he was influenced by the lyrics of Kris Kristofferson and John Prine, McMurtry embraces his songwriter title as an opportunity to tell stories with “straight-up rock and roll.”
“I was about nine years old when ‘Me & Bobby McGee came out,” he said. “Until that time, I wanted to be Johnny Cash, but I didn’t know where his songs came from … they just fell out of the air.”
His said his dreams changed after he got to see Kristofferson perform. “He and his band seemed to be having such a great time up there,” he recalled. “I thought, ‘That’s what I want to do. I want to write songs so I can do that.’”
McMurtry’s most recent album, “The Horses and the Hounds,” was released in 2021. Since then, he has been touring while recording more music.
Chicago, he said, has remained what he calls a “great market” and a regular stop on tours.
“It’s always been good to us,” he said. “Great music scene.”
Biggins said he hopes that in future years, he will have a formal arrangement with the village of Forest Park to more effectively raise funds and awareness.
“The village of Forest Park does an incredible job of working with small businesses and giving us access to be able to be successful,” he said, citing a desire to keep Food Aid in the village. “I would like to grow this event into an outdoor music festival and [continue] to let it grow kind of organically.”
Biggins said Robert’s also continues to host Soup and Bread West, a monthly community fundraiser with proceeds that go to organizations that try to end food insecurity. Soup and Bread West falls on the third Tuesday of each month, and a $10 donation fee is requested at the door. Guests can bring soup and bread for what Biggins calls a “crock-pot event” with funds donated to nonprofit and mutual aid causes.
Correction, July 17, 2024, 12:39 p.m.: This article has been updated to reflect the correct dates of Soup and Bread West events. They are the third Tuesday of the month. We apologize for the error.
