This year was the 11 annual Treefort Music Festival. The festival began in 2012 with Built to Spill, The Joy Formidable and Polçia as headliners, as well as 137 different bands throughout 13 venues across Boise. This year was the first time that the headliners played in Julia Davis Park, with 59 other venues all around downtown Boise and over 450 bands playing this year.
The festival has grown exponentially over the last eleven years, but it’s become about so much more than just music. Boise has always had its own music scene with bars like Humping Hannah’s, and venues like the Knitting Factory. With the inclusion of Treefort, Boise is starting to become a known music scene in the Pacific Northwest, and as a town that bands actually want to play
Other than the music, Treefort had over 700 events across the five days this year.
Events included Hackfort that focused on tech and VR;, Artfort which turned the old Greyhound Station into a music venue and art exhibit with elaborate spray paint murals on the outside;, Storyfort that encouraged creativity from those who attended its events such as readings from Boise State MFAs and workshops on writing your own zine; Dragfort which was centered out of the Balcony, a downtown Boise gay bar known for its drag performers and its activism.
Not only does Treefort show all different kinds of art, it is diverse in the musicians it brings as well. From Rayland Baxter, who is an “Appalachian spirit,” as my news director put it, to Leikeli47, a rapper who wears a mask to hide her face and sings about “girl blunts”.
Currently, I don’t believe it would be an understatement to say that the arts are under attack. Less so the arts, and more so what they stand for.
Art has always been a form of political expression, which is something that this year’s festival performers did not shy away from.
From Built to Spill’s and Blood Lemon’s Melanie Radford dawning a bass guitar reading “apathy kills,” to Seattle’s rapper and pop performer TeZATalks speaking out against bigotry and attacks on bodily autonomy at her Skatefort show, to drag performer Cyraphina Thunderpussy telling Balcony patrons to take out their phones and record her impassioned speech to the Idaho Legislature.
Even at the merch tent in Julia Davis Park, the festival sold t-shirts and fanny packs that read “Treefort is for everyone.”
“Treefort is for everyone” is an important sentiment that carried throughout the festival, and an important sentiment to have in this political climate. As our state tries to shut down diversity through bills trying to restrict drag performers, calling gender-affirming care for transgender youth “genital mutilation” and reducing funding for higher education and its diversity program, events like Treefort help to stand against that.
There will and should always be a place for political protest, and events like Treefort are the perfect settings for it. Treefort, and what it stands for, is important now more than it ever has been. As the legislature tries to tear down anything deemed as different, Treefort protects and gives a platform for art and activism. It is a safe space for art to be expressed and opinions to be shared. It doesn’t just protect art, it protects the community as well.
At its heart, Treefort isn’t just a musical festival. It is about art, community and how those two fit together. As big as the festival grows and no matter how many musicians start to attend, it is by and for the Idaho community.
Though it was subtle and not on the lineup, this year’s Treefort was a powerful response to everything the Idaho legislature has been trying to restrict.
Ellie Erickson is a student at the University of Idaho and station manager at KUOI.
Guest voices can be submitted at [email protected].