The onset of summer typically marks the beginning of music festival season. Fans wait patiently for long, sunny days spent listening to their favorite artists with a cold beverage in hand, flocking to events like the Minnesota Yacht Club Festival in St. Paul, Basilica Block Party in Minneapolis, and the nearby Lollapalooza in Chicago.
But snow and cold weather won’t stop Minnesotans from having a good time, especially when it comes to live music. A departure from the traditional summertime formula, the late-winter-early-spring Rochester Thaw Music Festival on March 22 offers fans a different kind of experience—an intimate event that allows Rochester’s venues, small businesses, and local talent to shine.
Photo by Corrie Strommen
Nick Novotny, Rochester Thaw’s founder and festival director, is a lifelong musician who has played several roles in Minnesota’s music industry, both on and off stage—he plays drums for Clay Fulton & The Lost 40 and previously worked for Mid West Music Fest and Minnesota Beethoven Festival. When Novotny moved to Rochester from Winona in 2016, he noticed a festival-sized gap in the local music scene. “We had some larger-scale music events, but there wasn’t a traditional music festival,” he recalls.
“There was a lot of momentum building, a lot of bands popping up, more people playing shows. There was just this fire and energy with the music scene here that was really growing at a rapid rate,” Novotny says. “If you have a budding music scene, you always see a big, local, grassroots music festival that is your way of showcasing your city
and what music is made there, but also giving a bigger platform for out-of-town bands to come in and get more eyes on them locally.”
His idea came to fruition in 2019—a bite-sized version of today’s Rochester Thaw with Novotny working solo at the helm. In 2020, the festival was cancelled just eight days before the event due to the pandemic, and Novotny went back to the drawing board. “I couldn’t do it any bigger on my own,” he says. “I needed more help.”
Novotny brought the concept to My Town My Music, a local organization dedicated to supporting Rochester’s music scene through show promotion and bringing state and regional talent to town. “I started to have conversations with them about potentially joining their team, becoming an owner of My Town My Music, and bringing the festival with me,” Novotny says. “It was kind of a match made in heaven at that point.”
As co-owner of the organization, Novotny put on the first Rochester Thaw with My Town My Music in 2023, introducing the festival’s current expanded format. What used to be a small, single-stage event with seven bands is now a six-venue, 30-band festival showcasing
a mix of Rochester-based artists and regional talent.
Photo by Nick Greseth
This year’s festival on March 22 is spread across theaters, coffee shops, art studios, and other downtown venues, with artists like The People Brothers Band, Kiss the Tiger, LAAMAR, and Maygen & The Birdwatcher on the lineup.
The response has been fantastic, Novotny explains, noting that fans travel from all over the Midwest to attend the festival—a testament to Rochester’s growing identity as an arts and culture destination. “There is a lot of passion behind music in this community, and I think for what people’s expectations are, Rochester always tends to punch above its weight and over-deliver,” he says. “This stuff wouldn’t happen if people weren’t excited to come to Rochester and play, or if there wasn’t that passionate bunch of people who supports arts and culture here in the city.”
With iconic venues like First Avenue and 7th St. Entry, The Armory, Palace Theatre, and many more—not to mention stadiums—dotting every corner of the Twin Cities, the music and art scenes in greater Minnesota are often left out of the cultural conversation. But there’s myriad talent and creativity to explore outside the metro.
“You have so many different areas of the state that all have their own unique flavor and different vibe, and by having some of those bigger events in different places, you get to see a city in a different light,” Novotny says. “It gives you an opportunity to go and explore some place new… you come once, and have a great time at a music festival, you might come back and spend more time here.”
Photo by Corrie Strommen
The cultural scenes throughout greater Minnesota are important for artists, too—even those based in the Twin Cities. “I’ve found that smaller cities with fewer venues tend to be even more enthusiastic concertgoers,” says Meghan Kreidler, Minneapolis-based musician and lead singer of Kiss the Tiger. “I’m looking forward to returning to Rochester after quite some time. Some of our most exciting shows have been in Rochester, and that’s because the people really show up and know how to party.”
As the festival continues to expand, Novotny and the My Town My Music team are working to retain its original charm by bringing well-known bands into small, intimate spaces rather than adding extra days and larger venues. “We want you to have a really nice experience roaming Rochester,” he says. “If you’ve never been before, you get to experience a brand-new city and walk the streets, visit the shops, restaurants, and bars, and listen to a bunch of good music while you’re at it.”
Tickets for this year’s festival are available for purchase online.
