HELENA — Starting on July 7, 'Alive at Five' will make its return to downtown Helena. For 2021, the event will be dubbed 'Revive at Five' by Downtown Helena, and is seen as a chance to create opportunities for local businesses and bands to 'revive' themselves after the layoff COVID-19 created in March of 2020.
Downtown Helena Operations Manager, Mike Rooney, says even before the release of the 'Revive at Five' schedule, he was fielding multiple calls each week with people asking about the widely regaled event's return and the community feedback on it has all been positive.
“The response has been overwhelmingly positive and that's something that we really want to keep going as we go into this. It's really kind of focused on that positivity. The fact that, you know, we're not fully recovered yet, but our community is ready to get out there safely and at a distance,” said Rooney at Anchor Park.
'Revive at Five' will feature local food trucks like Eat Greekish, Rockstarr BBQ, Cheddar's, and many more. 'Revive at Five' will also feature live music every week from some of Montana's very best.
Leading off the eight-week slate will be SunsAh406, and the band's key members, Scott Oyler, Jarred Hanson, and Carrie Stewart, noted they're excited to see a full slate of solely Montana bands represented on the schedule this year.
"That's great," said Scott Oyler, "It’s going to be great to play with the hometown crowd.”
"It's about time that, you know, Montana is, you know, noticed. There's a lot of talent in this in this state," said Jarred Hanson as Oyler and Stewart both nodded.
On July 28, Los Marvelitos will take the stage at Pioneer/Anchor Park smack dab in the middle of the eight weeks and the Latin-Folk Surf Rock band will get a chance to play in one of its first shows in over a year. While the prospect of playing to a crowd is exciting enough, Los Marvelitos frontman Garrett Smith said he and the band are also excited to finally get back to seeing live music as well.
“We're just really excited to play at 'Revive at Five' this year, and excited to see that event continue," said Smith. "And really looking forward to going and watching other bands and being part of the crowd as well, because we missed going to live music too.”
To cap off the year's event, Big Ska Country will take their high-energy Ska music into the limelight. The six-person band has plenty of shows on their schedule as they make their way to the stage at Women's Park on August 25, and said they're just excited to be back playing in front of crowds, whether it be at 'Revive at Five' or another venue.
"Every time I'm in a band that like finally has all 35 songs for a three-hour show down and ready to just go kill a room that just -- that gets me going. I don't know what it does for everybody else. It's like as soon as like everything -- having it all -- a musician. Like Don said to me, this is what we do," exclaimed Scott Williams.
To see what 'Revive at Five' will be bringing back this coming summer, please click here.
