Beardfest — more than a music festival — returns to Hammonton, with an ‘extra day’ added

ROB SANKEY

Out of the Beardspace members and fans at the 2024 Beardfest.

“We had pretty grand visions of touring with our music, and we always wanted to bring people together in a positive way,” says Jeremy Savo, one of the founding members of Out of the Beardspace, the jazz-funk-rock band that founded Beardfest. This year’s 13th annual edition takes place 26-30 at The Paradise Lakes Campground in Hammonton, with artists such as Zion Marley, Papadosio, Couch, Tauk, Snacktime and Consider the Source performing, and art and wellness activities, movie screenings and more also scheduled; visit beardfest.net.

The Out of the Beardspace members first met as teenagers in the School of Rock program. They went on tour together through the program and with various bands until they finally formed the group. The lineup currently includes Savo on guitar and vocals, his brother Kevin on bass and vocals, Zach LoPresti on guitar, Matt O’Neil on bass, Sam Gutman on keyboards, Ethan Feinstein on drums, and Mike Mahoney on percussion.

TESSA TABOR

A scene from the 2024 Beardfest.

The band’s unusual name is a symbol of manifestation, coming from a silly inside joke by a high school friend who used to stroke his beard while in thought and say he was “in the beardspace.”

“That word came to be a part of all of our vocabulary, and whenever we had an idea that hadn’t been explained or manifested yet, we’d say ‘it’s in the beardspace,’ ” says Jeremy Savo. “It’s in contrast to another word called meatspace — a cyberpunk term meaning ‘in the physical world.’ ”

As teenagers, band members would throw secret parties at LoPresti’s house, inviting other musicians to play for their friends while his parents were out of town.

“That’s kind of how we learned how to promote shows and put on a whole production,” says Savo. “Just little by little, starting with these backyard parties.”

Although they were quickly caught and shut down, Lopresti’s supportive parents let the band throw a going-away party, because they were going to move to a farm in Virginia.

“It was a really positive development for us because they taught us how to be more organized and more professional,” says Savo, “It just became a little more grown-up at that point when they got involved because they had some rules. We had to be a little more regulated and making sure everything was safe.”

That party was the first Beardfest. It was an all-day event with multiple musical performances, a taco truck, and live painters. It was such a success that they decided to repeat it the following year. On year three, they moved to a bigger venue, but it fell through at the last minute.

“For complicated reasons, having to do with leases, subleases and miscommunications, we got kicked off that land the very day that we opened,” says Savo. “We wound up being able to relocate to Paradise Lakes within 12 hours, and we actually wound up starting the music on time.”

ZION MARLEY

Despite each band member moving to a different area of the country, they still come together every year to organize and perform at Beardfest. Although the festival is still run mainly by Jeremy Savo, LoPresti and Gutman, the team now includes 100 staff members and countless volunteers. O’Neil, who works in construction, builds sets and props for the event. Feinstein, who owns the Philadelphia Drum Company, provides drums. LoPresti and Gutman helped find this year’s headliner — Zion Marley, who is Lauryn Hill’s son, and Bob Marley’s grandson — through their connections touring with Hill.

Marley will perform with Out of the Beardspace on June 27. “I’m really excited to perform with Zion Marley,” says Savo. “I’ve gotten really deep into reggae, so it was just a wild coincidence that my two best friends and partners in this festival wound up connected to the Marley family.”

Beardfest isn’t just a music festival but a celebration of creative expression through art and community.

“We want to redefine entertainment a little bit,” says Savo. “We think that music and art festivals really serve a deeper role in society than just a place to watch a select few people perform. It’s a place where people come together away from screens. It’s a place for community, expression and creativity.”

The festival provides interactive activities such as community murals and workshops on subjects including yoga, hula hoop dancing, improv comedy, art therapy, and sound meditation. Attendees can also go to themed camps with pre-planned events and activities that supplement what Beardfest regularly schedules; some themed camps are presented by nonprofit organizations like Stef’s Cereal Bar, which serves cereal and raises money to feed the hungry. Beardfest also partners with the Pinelands Preservation Alliance, which helps preserve the ecosystem where the festival is located.

Overall, Savo hopes Beardfest makes an impression — in the community, and in people’s lives — not only on the weekend of the event, but year-round, and in years to come.

“I hope I can do Beardfest throughout the rest of my life,” says Savo, “and maybe even have it strong enough that when I can’t run it, it can continue under the next generation. I would love to have a legacy and an impact on the world or at least in the local community.”

A new twist this year will be an “extra day”: the space will remain open on Sun., June 29, though there will be no planned events on that day other than the first-ever closing ceremony. People can then stay over that night and leave on Monday morning.

“It feels like a bummer sometimes that we spend all this effort to plan it and all this time to build it, and then it happens so quickly,” says Savo. “It’s a time to relax and enjoy this space that we all created together.”

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