Homegrown Music Festival

The Homegrown Music Festival is Duluth, Minnesota's annual showcase of local music from the Duluth/Superior area, which includes Minnesota's Iron Range and communities on the north and south shores of Lake Superior. The event has grown from featuring 10 local acts in 1999 to roughly 200 in recent years. It happens every year during the first week of May. The 19th annual Homegrown is scheduled for April 30 to May 7, 2017.

Notable acts that have performed in the festival include: Low, Trampled By Turtles, Charlie Parr, Retribution Gospel Choir, Gaelynn Lea, the Keep Aways, the Black Eyed Snakes and Haley Bonar.

The event was originally a for-profit venture, but became a nonprofit in 2006. Melissa La Tour is the festival director.

Duluthian Scott Lunt, known as "DJ Starfire" or simply "Starfire," became a prominent figure in the Duluth music scene in 1997 when he founded Random Radio, an unlicensed low-power station. With about 40 friends volunteering to broadcast shows from his basement in Duluth's East Hillside neighborhood, Lunt became well acquainted with Duluth musicians and traveling musicians, who would perform live on random broadcasts.

For Lunt's 30th birthday, he invited five acts to play at a private party at Lafayette Square in Duluth's Park Point neighborhood. One of those bands was his own, Father Hennepin, performing for the first time. That event is considered the precursor of the Homegrown Music Festival.

In February 1999, Lunt was playing cribbage with friends and reminiscing about his 30th birthday party. During the conversation, he decided to hold another party, this time open to the general public, called the Homegrown Music Festival.

The first Homegrown was held at the NorShor Theatre's Mezzanine Lounge over two nights, attracting about 1,000 people. Ten bands performed: Father Hennepin, Giljunko, Max Dakota, the Black Labels, Amy Abts, Gild, Crazy Betty, Ballyhoo, 2 Sleepy People and the First Ladies.

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