"The WHAT Music Festival began in my backyard during the summer of 2003," said organizer Marko Ruble, a Cody native who now lives in Laramie, Wyo.
"At that time, nothing in this immediate area existed which would cater to bands in our situation, so we invented it," he said.
Ruble invited friends and local musicians to help organize and define the annual showcase. On a shoestring budget, with substandard gear and no experience promoting large events, planning was hectic, "but somehow, it worked."
Now an established and growing annual event, the WHAT Music Festival features local musicians performing songs spanning musical genres including punk, funk, reggae, electronica and jazz.
The festival regularly attracts more than 200 people who turn out for afternoon and evening performances by bands, solo acts and other artists, including poets.
Music fans should "bring a lawn chair and an open mind," Ruble said.
He said the festival's name came to him in a dream after the first organizing meeting.
In the dream, "everyone at the meeting kicked and screamed about what we should call the festival, until I had to scream ‘WHAT Festival? We have no festival!' I guess the name just stuck," he said.
Sam Davidson aka M.C. Sasquatch is a band member of the Upbeat Project and has played at the WHAT the past four years. He says, "The WHAT Festival is an excellent opportunity for musicians in Wyoming and the region to get their art out there and for fans of music to see some very talented people. Edelweiss is the perfect place to camp out and spend a couple of days listening to great music. Heady vibes abound."
Few live music outlets besides bars thrive in northwestern Wyoming, so it's rare that funk or reggae bands get a chance to play to a large audience in that part of the state, he said.
But Ruble said that "the tide is kind of turning" in musical tastes.
Ruble said he wants the festival to continue to grow, and eventually be handed off to younger Cody musicians who can reshape it in their own style.
This year's WHAT Music Festival will feature more than six main musical acts, several solo musicians, art and photography booths and other performers.
Ruffin Prevost is a fan of live music and creative musicians. He is the Wyoming reporter for The Billings Gazette.
