The Saint Anselm College Country Music Fest, a collaboration between Campus Activities Board and the Dana Center, brought musical artists like Aiden Lewis and Parmalee to campus. The event also hosted activities such as line dancing and mechanical bull riding. One of the night’s most special attendees other than the artists headlining was Saint Anselm college’s Father Aloysius.
Father Aloysius helped advertise, give away tickets, host the mechanical bull, photo booth and giveaway special events. “I was impressed with how good Parmalee is live,” Fr. Aloysius said, “they have a great sound.” Some students might be in the same boat as Fr. Aloysius who said “I didn’t realize I knew so many songs by them, so I was surprised by that.”
Returning students might remember artists LoCash and Chase Bryant who visited the campus in recent years. There has been debate about the quality and renown of the artists brought to campus, with some students who were in favor of the choices, but also a significant amount of others who would have preferred to see other artists instead. This year the main artist of a significant musical event was described as a “chart topping country band” in the event’s advertising. Fr. Aloysius says “We were very fortunate to have a band on campus that currently has a number one hit on country radio, and that has had several hits in the past” Among the student population, country music is very popular, and it is not uncommon to hear country songs playing in Davison Hall throughout the day. Most of the musical artists that come to campus play country, so it is no surprise that this event was such a big success.
“I really enjoyed all the music,” Fr. Aloysius said. As an avid country music listener, he says he “listen[s] to country radio all the time when [he is] in the car.” What is even more amazing is that the morning after the festival, Fr. Aloysius says he “got in the car and within 2 minutes of listening to the radio a Parmalee song came on that they had played the night before, so it was pretty neat to say to the monk in the car with me ‘I just heard this band play this live last night!’”
When asked about the opening acts for the music festival, Fr. Aloysius said, “Aidan Lewis is a dear friend of mine, so my comments about him come with serious bias, but I think he is extremely talented. I also thought Mackenzie was very good as well. She has a beautiful voice and I have no doubt that we will be seeing her rise to fame in the future.”
The Summer Ends Country Music Fest was a large scale event in the Sullivan arena, with AVI catering drinks, alcohol, and other refreshments to attendees. This event was new to campus and hosted opening numbers from 2021 Saint Anselm alum Aiden Lewis as well as Mackenzie Carpenter who graduated from Belmont University.
Though the music fest was not at capacity for the Sullivan arena, a decent amount of people attended the event, sporting cowboy hats and boots, blending right in with the country stars headlining. Before the opening acts, they offered line dancing and a mechanical bull that students could try their hands at. Goffstown police was there to support and supervise the events for security purposes.
The music fest artists were booked by the Dana Center’s Joseph Deleault, with Dana Center Theater Staff member Samuel Marcotte who is a floater on shows and events. At this show he worked at the merchandise table for Mackenzie Carpenter selling sweatshirts, shirts, hats and beer cozies. Marcotte says his favorite part of the night was the mechanical bull riding, even though he did not get to take a turn himself. Additionally, he said, “Mackenzie Carpenter, one of the openers, had a song about ‘Red Flags’ that was pretty good, I added that one.”
Students wishing to find and listen to songs by the artists featured at the music fest can tune in to the radio station 96.5 Country Radio in Manchester, who collaborated with Saint Anselm College on this event.