Mike Wolanin | The Republic People gather for Hutchfest at The Commons in Columbus, Ind., Friday, April 21, 2023. The concert was organized by the Landmark Columbus Foundation to raise money for the Crump Theatre.
A first-time music festival and fundraiser that rocked The Commons Friday with three bands and about 550 people hopes to return next year as a two-day event.
Those are the tentative plans of organizers with the nonprofit Landmark Columbus Foundation that helps preserve the cultural heritage of Columbus. The evening called HutchFest with classic ensembles Cottonpatch, Brown 25 and Oddz R netted slightly less than a net $25,000 to be shared between the foundation and the continued fund drive to reopen the storied Crump Theater on Third Street.
“I think we’re on to something,” said Richard McCoy, executive director of the foundation. “People were asking me if we were going to hit the maximum number of people allowed in the space. We weren’t, but it felt full.”
So, full, in fact that some mentioned that the atmosphere presented a “good” challenge: finding enough space to dance.
That estimated 550 attendance figure makes it one of the largest entertainment draws at The Commons in years. (The local annual Ganesh Festival usually attracts 800 plus, but that is a mixed cultural event spread over an entire Saturday). Also, a Christian pop-rock Christmas concert with nationally touring artist Francesca Battistelli drew 900 people, including seating well behind Chaos I, in December 2013.
The name for the latest event was affixed after organizers picked a date for the gathering and realized that it fell on local leader and philanthropist Hutch Schumaker’s 75th birthday. They said they begged him for a month to use his name to draw added attention, especially because he has long been one of the most visible supporters of The Crump and is a Landmark Foundation board member.
In fact, McCoy said he believes using the name probably helped attract a wider audience for the $10 ticket price.
Schumaker chuckled at the notion.
“Well,” he said, “I didn’t know I was quite that cool.”
Cool or not, attendees probably would agree that he stood out at the concert while decked in an orange feather boa that wife Kevina had him wear, along with his trademark fanny pack — so much a part of his wardrobe that organizers sold Hutch fanny packs and other merchandise to boost the fundraising. In fact, lighthearted merchandise was a part of the sponsor packages.
“What really was surprising was how many people who wanted to participate as sponsors,” McCoy said.
Hutch praised the work of organizers such as Oddz R musician Ben Wever, who proposed the event idea, to the Landmark Columbus team.
“I just think that there was the right kind of energy for this right now,” Schumaker said. “… Part of the objective was to raise money, of course, but a lot of it also was to see more activation of the downtown and to encourage people to get out.”
Jessica Schnepp, project manager for The Crump, said the facility’s portion of the proceeds will go toward current plumbing and electrical expenses for the second floor lobby, known in the 1940s as the Leisure Loge.
Organizers were impressed with the concert attendance.
“We were thrilled,” McCoy said.”With a first-time event, we just didn’t exactly know what to expect.”
He mentioned that about 150 tickets were sold at the door alone.
McCoy added that this is one way to highlight area cover bands and “allow people to do fun, affordable things downtown.”
Schumaker and McCoy both said that organizers would work out a solution to the long beer lines. But some people told organizers that often is the mark of a good event to attend.
