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Free event to feature nine bands

The Good Friends Music Fest is officially returning for its seventh year, offering up a free two-day music festival in the days leading up to Bonnaroo.

Logan Eley said he and some friends had the idea to host a free community music festival when another local music festival was discontinued.

“It was the Music Tree fest that they used to do in town and then it didn’t happen one year and we thought we should so something to kind of fill in until they come back, but they never did,” he said.

Taking place at two different locations and featuring nine different bands, Good Friends Music Fest will take place Friday, June 7 at Common John Brewing and Saturday, June 8 at Rotary Park, across from the Manchester Recreation Center.

The event will feature nine different bands across both days of the festival. These include Steady Rotation, The Talismen, Captain Midnight Band, The Weird Sisters, Joey Fletcher Band, Stagger Moon, Yonder Grove, Chemtrail and Omcat.

Eley said the main criteria for picking bands to perform during Good Friends Music Fest is that they perform original music, rather than covers of other bands.

“That is tricky because you can find a lot of cover bands around here, which is fine, but we just wanted to do something different,” he said.

Last year, the event brought in 400-500 people between both days, Eley said.

“Every band playing is family friendly and they are aware that the fest is too,” he said. “We will have the bounce houses and we buy a lot of Hula Hoops and frisbees and balls and stuff just to have out on the grounds.

The event will also feature food trucks and handmade crafts and is also pet friendly.

“We will have food trucks both days for three different food options both days and we will have 10 vendors at Common John and about 20 at Rotary Park,” Eley said.

For more information about the Good Friends Music Fest, visit the Good Friends Music Fest Facebook page.