About the Festival
For years, many have spoken of how good of a time it would be to have a music festival at Riverside Park in Spillville, Iowa; home of The Inwood Ballroom. Spillville, as with the surrounding area, has always had a vast array of musicians spanning generations and genres. The Inwood has already made quite a name for itself in regards to hosting many great bands throughout the last 100 years. Now, through the donations of time, material, money and music; the amazing people that live in the area can say that they helped create The Turkey River Music Festival.
The Turkey River Music Festival is an outdoor event located in Riverside Park next to the Turkey River and surrounding forest with plenty of camping availability. The festival also has the benefit of utilizing The Inwood for its venue in the event of inclement weather. The purpose of the music festival is to give the people of Northeast Iowa a way to get out and support local music while also striving to one day get more nationally known acts to join in.
The Turkey River Music Festival started in 2018 with no money and no plan. Through initial donations from local businesses, we were able begin planning and covering costs for the inaugural festival, which took place on September 22, 2018. The first year’s genre spanning lineup included Fusion, The Guilty Kilts, Woodshed Reboot, Busted Flat Band, Vigilante Firefighters, Wonder Creek, Yukon, and Sinkhole. Thanks to all the bands and festival workers volunteering their time, along with the generous donations of our sponsors and attendees at the gate, we were able to have a very successful first year.
For 2019, we have set our sights on building a permanent covered stage (depending on funds) along with expanding the festival to a two day event. This year we are focusing on Blues, Rock & Roll and Metal music. We have not yet permanently devoted the festival to a certain genre and likely never will. We will continue to have food, drink and possibly craft vendors, the 2nd Annual TRMF Kickball Tournament and raffle games along with any other ideas that present themselves. We will continue to strive to make the Turkey River Music Festival bigger and better as the years go by.
The Turkey River Music Festival is a division of the Civic Improvement Association of Spillville, IA. We are a non-profit organization with all income being used exclusively for subsequent music festivals. In the unfortunate event of the music festival coming to an end, all funds will be allocated equally to Riverside Park and The Inwood.