Revisiting the Mississippi
River Festival

As SIUE’s 50th anniversary approaches, faculty members such as University Archivist Steve Kerber have been busy making plans to commemorate the Mississippi River Festival (MRF).

The legendary arts festival was initially conceived as a unifier for the Greater St. Louis region.  The project was named after the river, because it has always served as an artificial barrier between Missouri and Illinois.  The function of the MRF was to bring people from both sides of the river together and the educational features of the festival were very community-oriented.  Performances were not only intended for the University community but for the entire metropolitan population to enjoy.

Today, the MRF continues to function as a great unifier, for Kerber describes the festival as “the aspect of the University’s history that everyone is interested in.”

Those interested can now turn to a new MRF website for all their festival informational needs (http://www.siue.edu/lovejoylibrary/archives/).  The site is composed of several elements, including a narrated historical slideshow; a searchable database that features all the performance dates, featured artists, opening acts, and attendance figures; plus an alphabetical list of all performers, and two digitized motion pictures.  The new MRF exhibits are accessible through the University Archives site on the library’s webpage.

Kerber is also serving as co-chair, along with Special Education and Communication Disorders Professor Jean Harrison, on an “MRF working committee” charged to suggest to the Chancellor how best to commemorate the festival during the University’s 50th anniversary celebration, which will occur during the 2007-2008 academic year.

At the suggestion of the MRF working committee, preliminary discussions are underway regarding the possibility of bringing back original MRF performers for a special commemorative concert sometime during the anniversary year as part of the Arts & Issues series.  In addition, Kerber and his archival associate, Amanda Bahr Evola, have prepared a definitive pictorial history of the MRF that was published in December 2006.  Copies of the book are available from the University Bookstore (618-650-2132) and from Arcadia Publishing (1-888-313-2665).

The MRF was a summer outdoor performing arts festival created as a partnership between SIUE and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in 1968.  From 1969 to 1974, Peter Pastreich served as the executive director of the orchestra, and he played a pivotal role in the establishment, planning, and operation of the MRF.

During the 2006 May Commencement, SIUE acknowledged Pastreich with an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters for his role in “collaborating with University officials in giving form and substance to the MRF vision, while managing the orchestra’s involvement in the festival and overseeing its artistic programming,” according to SIUE news.  Pastreich was the main figure responsible for booking artists during the first several years of the festival.

Fifth Dimension performed at the MRF on August 11, 1972.

Kerber says that the inaugural 1969 season “featured the best of both classical and popular music.”  Symphony conductor Walter Susskind led seventeen classical concerts that included works by Purcell, Shubert, and Beethoven, while featured soloists included violinist Itzhak Perlman and pianist Van Cliburn.

Professor of Music Linda Perry reflects, “One of the best aspects for me personally, in addition to lovely summer evenings hearing the St. Louis Symphony out at the tent, was participating in chamber music concerts.  Our faculty collaborated with Symphony musicians and had a wonderful time making music together.”

The popular acts of the first season showcased performerssuch as Buffy Sainte-Marie, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, the King Family, Janis Joplin, Arlo Guthrie, Joni Mitchell, Iron Butterfly, Ian and Sylvia, the New Christy Minstrels, Richie Havens, and The Band.

Janis Joplin performed at the MRF on July 1, 1969.

On July 14, 1969, fans were shocked when Bob Dylan unexpectedly joined The Band for a four-number encore.  Dylan had performed in concert only twice since an August 1966 motorcycle accident, and although only some 4,000 concert-goers were in attendance that night, in years to come, tens of thousands would claim to have heard Dylan perform.

SIUE Alumnus Ray Darr (B.A. ’75, M.A. ’84, Philosophy) reflects on that night, noting, “Probably the festival event that had the biggest and most lasting impression was during the concert by The Band.  They were really good, but about midway through the concert a rumor started being circulated through the crowd that Bob Dylan was backstage.  He had just flown in and was going to do a couple of songs with his old backup band.  This rumor was like electricity and it ran all through the crowd.  The impact of this rumor was directly evident, because the entire lawn audience began moving toward the tent to get a better look.”

Darr never saw Bob Dylan that night, but for him, the music was secondary to the event.  “The music was a nice addition, but many of us came in order to be with the group.”  He admits that he struggled to recall details from his MRF days, suggesting that “the excitement of the lawn seating and the entire goings-on may explain the lack of concrete memory I have about the music and the song selections.”

Noting that he hasn’t seen many of his old friends from the late sixties, Darr jokingly suggests, “Maybe one of these days we can all get together and reminisce about what we don’t remember.”

University Director of Public Affairs within Marketing and Communication Greg Conroy says he was living in University City, Missouri at the time of the MRF.  “To me, Edwardsville was a zillion miles away.  But I was a great jazz fan, and when I saw the jazz acts that were coming there, I started traveling to SIUE.  I saw John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Chick Corea, and the Modern Jazz Quartet.  My first wife and I also loved folk music, so we came over to see Hoyt Axton and Joan Baez, Pete Seeger and Arlo Guthrie.”

A sea of rock concert-goers packs the MRF lawn.

The MRF persisted for years despite continuous financial struggle thanks in large part to the commitment of President John Rendleman.  According to Kerber, “When Rendleman died of lung cancer in 1976, the festival lost its strongest supporter.”  Incoming President Kenneth “Buzz” Shaw brought in an outside theatrical management firm to run the MRF during the 1978-1980 seasons.  The last MRF took place in August 1980 with a concert featuring ZZ Top and the Henry Paul Band.

The festival was held in a large natural amphitheatre on the northern part of campus where commencement had been held each year beginning in 1963.  The trademark MRF tent ceased to be raised after the 1978 season, but several graduating classes attended their commencement ceremonies under its spacious roof between 1969 and 1978, and the last commencement took place at the site in 1981.  After being permitted to become overgrown for a quarter of a century, there are few recognizable signs of the MRF site.

Individual memories of the MRF, however, are not so easily overgrown.  Conroy reflects, “I remember parking the car in an open field that had some pavement and then walking to the festival area, with the two large drawings of people at the entrance—the canvas painted with a woman to indicate the women’s rest room and a drawing of a man for the men’s….  I remember bringing a blanket to sit on the lawn….  I also remember bringing my two-year-old daughter in a backpack…it was so ‘70s.  It was a time and an era that I’ll always remember fondly."

For more information:
http://www.siue.edu/lovejoylibrary/archives/

Or, to order the Mississippi River Festival Book from the SIUE bookstore:
http://www.siuebookstore.com/wum4/viewer?

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