Lakes Bluegrass Festival in Pine River Pays It Forward for the Community

The Lakes Bluegrass Festival has returned to Pine River for its 17th annual showing this week. Artists will take the stage at the Lakes Music and Events Park for four days, and the venue also provides concertgoers with musician-run workshops, a food court, and more.

The event was roughly held a mile down the road at the Cass County Fairgrounds. But about four years ago, the festival’s wide reach eventually attracted far more visitors than its previous venue could house.

“We had maybe 80 electrical campsites there, now we’re well over 200,” said Lakes Bluegrass Festival co-founder & Entertainment Director Tim Roggenkamp. “We hope we’re getting close to 300 sites total.”

As the Lakes Bluegrass Festival continued gaining headway from a musical perspective, Tim and his wife Cindy have also begun branching off into other avenues.

“For several years now, the [Pine River Area] Foundation’s been sponsoring scholarships for high school students in the fine arts area,” said Cindy. “Our fans really support the businesses in Pine River so it’s really been an economic benefit to the folks and the businesses in Pine River.”

Cindy and Tim have co-owned the Lakes Bluegrass Festival for nearly two decades. The couple drew inspiration from their honeymoon back in 1981, where they enjoyed nothing but good music and good energy. Today, all the pair wish to do is pay it forward to others.

“We learned a lot,” said Ms. Roggenkamp. “We saw a lot of the first-generation bluegrass musicians and it was just such a wonderful event where people came together. The music was great and just the whole experience of the Bluegrass Festival is something we wanted to bring to central Minnesota.”

However, music is merely one piece of the puzzle for the bluegrass enthusiasts.

“[We] also bring in other quality events, family events, nonprofitable events,” said Mr. Roggenkamp. “We had the Rotarians Against Human Trafficking two weeks ago. So we’re doing events like that as well as Bluegrass Festival.”

A portion of the festival’s proceeds will also be donated towards the Pine River community through the Pine River Area Foundation. This year’s event runs through Sunday, Aug. 27.