The first Croft Farm Rockfest took over Croft Farm. It featured seven bands and was filmed for TV on Saturday, June 8.
“When we started the event, the idea was to get the location that wasn’t a bar,” said Mark Oberstaedt, father Patrick Oberstaedt, the lead guitarist of the Cherry Hill band No Commitment, which opened the festival.
Oberstaedt was able to work with the township and Inside Music Today to put the festival together.
“Mark came to us with the opportunity. I thought it was a great use of the property to get more exposure here to Croft Farm,” Recreation Department Director Megan Brown said. “A lot of people who live in Cherry Hill don’t even know it’s here.”
According to a township release, the broadcast was to celebrate the 19th anniversary of Inside Music Today.
According to the release, the band was nominated by the Jersey JAM Awards as the Best Under 21 Band in New Jersey, and its debut album “Hiding What is Underneath” was nominated as the Best Under 18 Album by a New Jersey artist.
“We love getting together and jamming with other bands our age and rocking out,” said lead singer Zach Birnbaum, a Cherry Hill West sophomore and “American Idol” season 12 Hollywood Week contestant, in a statement. “We are especially psyched to have everybody in our hometown, where we can share our music with people local and from all over New Jersey.”
In addition to No Commitment, If All Else Fails, Volt, Half Daze, Dr. Lou and the Privileged Few, The Count Josephine Band, and The Defused performed at the show.
“What’s great about a situation like this is bands get exposure to each other, which is always a good thing,” Oberstaedt said. “We’ve got a mix of young bands and some established bands.”
Dr. Lou and the Privileged Few came on second, mixing up the sound with classic rock and original songs. The festival will be broadcast throughout the summer on IMT, which runs every Saturday at midnight on WMCN and reaches 2.1 million households in the Delaware Valley, including Cherry Hill subscribers of Comcast, Verizon FiOS, DISH Network and DirecTV, according to the release.
Numerous vendors attended the event with food and crafts.
“With any event, you want to see it grow and get bigger. We want people to see what we have to offer here and from the township,” Brown said. “People kind of wandered and sat in the sun, enjoying the property.”
Oberstaedt is hoping the event will grow and evolve. Additionally, he hopes it opened the eyes and ears of residents to new and accessible bands in the area.
“If you want to see a band, make sure you check them out and see what they’re doing this summer,” Oberstaedt said.
