Scene Makers Q+A: Rochester store owners head up Winona’s Mid West Music Fest this weekend

As if they didn’t already have enough to do running a record/audio/vintage-clothing shop and little movie theater in downtown Rochester, Maggie Panetta and Nate Nelson decided to take the helm of the two-city Mid West Music Fest this year, too.

“I think of us having all these interlocking gears that run off each other,” said Nelson, who co-owns and operates Treedome (the multifaceted store) and Pop’s Art Theater (mini-cinema) with Panetta.

Before relocating to Panetta’s native Rochester, the newlyweds first opened their store in Winona, where the Mid West Music Fest is set to host its 15th annual run this weekend. About 60 mostly Minnesota bands will perform across seven venues Friday and Saturday in Winona’s riverfront downtown area, including Black Eyed Snakes, Night Moves, Heiruspecs, Rogue Valley, Raffaella, the Shackletons, Landon Conrath and Monica LaPlante. Then the MWMF staff has to start planning for its similar La Crosse, Wis., installment in September.

Here’s an edited chat with the new directors of the festival(s).

Q: What’s a couple of hip, indie, young go-getters like you two doing living in a smaller city like Rochester and Winona instead of the Twin Cities?

A: Nelson: It’s the community aspect of it. The artistic community in Rochester is really tightknit, between the musicians, the artists, the museums. I love Minneapolis, but there’s definitely more of a disparate scene there with all these different pockets and genres not tied together closely like they are here.

Panetta: You’re literally going to run into people in the scene every day here or in Winona. And we all support each other’s events. That’s harder to do in Minneapolis just because there’s so much else going on.

Q: How did you two wind up leading Mid West Music Fest?

A: Nelson: In 2017-2018, I started photographing the festival for the Current. Then we had a store in downtown Winona for a bit, and in 2018 and 2019 we hosted music there. Then in 2020, obviously COVID happened, and Maggie and I spearheaded the transition into it being a digital festival. Then in 2022, we were brought on.

Panetta: We had been involved in just about every aspect of the festival by that point — in volunteering, in vendor management, and I was involved in marketing and design. It’s always been a small staff, so we kind of all have to be involved in everything.

Q: Why do these sort of mini-South by Southwest festivals like MWMF, Homegrown (Duluth) and Big Turn (Red Wing) work so well in these smaller cities?

A: Nelson: Having colleges in these cities plays a role, I think. But probably the biggest reason is these cities are big enough to support these festivals but small enough to still be walkable. So you don’t have to drive 15 minutes to get from one show to the next, you just have to walk 100 feet.

Another advantage is all the businesses in town support the festival. There’s a sense of excitement about it that the other businesses latch onto, and see it as a chance to showcase our city. From early on, there was excitement about Mid West Music Fest in town, even though not everybody knew the bands.

Q: Has there been any resistance to the festival from the more conservative elements in town? Or have I seen “Footloose” too many times?

A: Nelson: I can’t speak for the early years of the fest, but I can say right now the town is very, very supportive.

Q: What are the differences between the Winona and La Crosse versions of Mid West Music Fest, logistically or more spiritually?

A: Panetta: Logistically, the La Crosse version of the festival has gone through a lot of changes and explored different iterations. We’ve explored having it in outdoor venues, in different times of the year. It’s still in the exploring phase. It’s about the same number of bands playing, though.

Nelson: For booking, Winona tends to lean more toward this side of the river, while La Crosse is more the other side. It pulls from Milwaukee and Madison. Winona pulls more from Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Q: So then you’re saying the music in the Winona festival is a lot better than in La Crosse?

A: Nelson: I would not say that!

Panetta: I will say, though, that Wisconsin doesn’t have the same structural support at the state level for the arts that Minnesota does, so we sometimes feel the difference there.

Nelson: And musically there is a difference in the types of music being fostered. Wisconsin leans more on Americana and rootsier music or stuff that’s way heavier, and Minnesota has more of the young indie-rock sound that kind of got kickstarted by Hippo Campus and now includes Durry, Lazy Eyes, Raffaella.

Q: Anything different in this weekend’s festival vs. past years?

A: Panetta: We’re leaning into what we’re calling historical acts this year, acts that have played the festival throughout its history and had an impact that we’re bringing back. That includes Heiruspecs, Black Eyed Snakes with Alan Sparhawk,

Rogue Valley, Lucy Michelle, Mark Mallman. I’d say about 20% of our acts this year are ones we consider part of the festival’s history. And then we’re happy to be hosting a lot of more recent picks, like the Shackletons, Black Widows, who’ve been here before but aren’t from the earlier years.

There’s one stage this year that’s being designated as the Discovery Stage for the more up-and-coming acts, and that’s at Peter’s Biergarten. And then another newer thing is we’re doing artists panels, too. Everyone will kind of hang out all weekend and can discuss a wide range of topics.

Q: Can you pick out some acts based down there in southeast Minnesota playing the festival that folks in the Twin Cities should take note of?

A: Nelson: One of the big ones in southeast Minnesota of late is Texas Toast. It’s sort of a supergroup featuring members of Barbaro, Sleeping Jesus, Big Brothers Band and Karate Chop, Silence. They started out as more of a straight country thing, but as they’ve played more and more, their live shows have gotten pretty psychedelic and jammy. Charlieboy from La Crosse is another one. They’re doing more of that poppy indie-rock thing we were talking about and doing it very well. They’re going out on tour this year.

Panetta: Another big one is Radium Girls. They’re also sort of a supergroup project with Megan Hanson and Cass Brady, aka Cass Magpie. Megan plays with a bunch of bands including Ultrasounds.

Q: Do each of you have a personal favorite memory from a past Mid West Music Fest you could pinpoint?

A: Nelson: One of the first years I was at the festival, Too Short to Be Stormtroopers shut down the festival at No Name. They’re a blast, but then they really hit home the community aspect of the festival as they brought up all these other musicians. It was a little bit sloppy, but the energy in the room was palpable, and I consider it a quintessential Mid West Music Fest moment.

Panetta: More recently, a big moment for me was having Your Smith basically come out of retirement to play the festival. It was an emotional experience. Her performances are always amazing, but it was extra exciting to us she chose to do the fest. And that really felt like a year when we really hit a groove in the festival.

Q: Any top names on your wish list who you’d like to see at the fest?

A: Panetta: We’d love to have Dessa back, because she headlined Year One and was an early supporter of the fest.

Nelson: Personally, I’d love to have Justin Vernon sneak in there some year. But honestly, the most exciting acts for me are the ones who aren’t yet very well known. I like getting them before they gain momentum. Like when we had Ondara back in 2017, that was before he won a Grammy.

Panetta: And we had Sierra Ferrell play, but unfortunately it was the year the festival went all-digital because of COVID. But we’re really proud of how many acts we have showcased at the fest whose careers took off.

When: 4 p.m.-1 a.m. Fri., noon-1 a.m. Sat.

Where: Downtown Winona.

Tickets: $30-$85, midwestmusicfest.org.