Rock the Rapids and Rob Bliss Join Forces for Grand Rapids Music Festival

Thu, June 02, 2011 at 12:33pm

Rock the Rapids, the two-year-old music and entertainment festival, announced today that the festival management and creators have reached an agreement with the creator of the World's longest Lip Dub Video and one of Grand Rapids' shining sons, Rob Bliss who will become the festival's Director of Promotions. Rock the Rapids' Vice President, Dan McCrath and Bliss began talks before the recent filming of the newly famous Grand Rapids Lip Dub Video that became nationally known the day it was released to you tube. McCrath said Bliss reached out to him to express his thanks for bringing a music festival to Grand Rapids and was interested in helping. "How can you not want to hear what's on this guy's mind." Said McCrath of Bliss… "He's had the attention of our community for some time and now he has the attention of You Tube and media outlets country wide. In fact, the Grand Rapids Lip Dub video has promoters online and in media pushing it from three showings worth of theatre goers for its sneak preview to nearly 2 million viewers and climbing fast. So it was not a difficult decision to discuss opportunities for Bliss within the organization that manages Grand Rapids' Original Music Festival."

McCrath and his Blue Cap Entertainment business partner Dennis Baxter (Co-Founder & CFO of Whitecaps Baseball) began their run in the entertainment industry in 2006 and launched Rock the Rapids back in 2009. After two successful years of operation at Fifth Third Ballpark Rock the Rapids announced recently that it would move to downtown Grand Rapids and that it would begin to brand itself as Grand Rapids' Original Music Festival with goals of reaching masses of people with affordable ticket prices and giving back to local organizations like the John Ball Zoo. Said McCrath… "We were excited about bringing our event to the downtown area and all along we wanted it to be more than just 6 days of music. We want to create a festival village for one week each summer and in order to do so we're going to need someone that can oversee its festive nature beyond that of artists performing on stage. I feel Rob is the best guy to oversee this process for Rock the Rapids and behind me was a board of directors and an event creator who agreed." It was obvious that Bliss' wheels were turning when just shortly before what would become his most amazing accomplishment within the city yet, he's thinking past Lip Dub and onto another event that could keep the "What's Hot about G.R." train rapidly moving in the right direction.

Bliss will have his hands full though. His experience includes building a social marketing machine behind his name and his ideas and organizing and producing exciting events. But his role for Rock the Rapids is to bring creative promotions to what could otherwise come to be known as a typical music festival. And that is where Festival Village comes in. "In most cases, music is the reason for people to attend such an event." Added Baxter… "But with Rock the Rapids, we want people to feel that Downtown and specifically Festival Village is THE place to be August 8th through the 13th. If Bliss can help make that happen then he is our guy."

"We're going to need the help of many people" Says Bliss of the event. "Like most of my promotions, Rock the Rapids will need volunteers to participate in giving the fans a great experience. We first have to recruit people who can help pull off a smooth and successful festival event. Then once we see what we've got body-wise, we can start having fun with ideas that appeal to the masses on the respective days of the festival." Bliss also added "The timing is really good. Lip Dub still has people's attention and the city of Grand Rapids is White Hot because of it." Now we turn up the burner and make Rock the Rapids Cook!"

Updates of upcoming promotions will be posted here and the Rock the Rapids Facebook site. Tickets go on sale tomorrow June 3rd at StarTickets.com.