Daily News
From Home Furnishing Business
Ashley Music Festival Draws 35,000, Raises $300,000 for Charity
September 21,
2016 by Jane Chero in Community / Charitable Support, Industry 
Ashley for the Arts, a music festival founded in 2009 by Ashley Furniture that has become one of Wisconsin’s largest charity events, hosted more than 35,000 guests at its three-day music and art festival recently in Memorial Park in Arcadia, Wis.
In spite of an extended rain on the second day of the event, attendance increased by 8,000 over last year’s festival.
The company said the event has matured into a bona fide hit among music and art festival patrons from throughout the upper Midwest. It also raised more than $300,000 for nearly 30 participating non-profit organizations. More than 2,500 volunteers also took part.
The event kicked off the annual Pursuit of a Cure 5K (and Miracle Mile) Run-Walk. Pursuit of a Cure acts as a fundraiser to advance medical research and help offset the medical-related costs that patients incur. Each of the more than 260 participants was able to choose a charitable organization and 100% of their registration funds went towards.
More than $18,000 was raised over the weekend benefitting the American Cancer Society, Rita Tranberg Memorial, OLPH Mission, and the Arcadia Ambulance Service.
Despite the rain on the second day, fans of the festival arrived by the thousands to see art and craft vendors, four music stages, a car show, hot air balloon launches, two air parks (featuring bouncy houses and obstacle courses), an interactive art station, and a kids jungle gym and playground area.
Two of the 19 supported school districts, Arcadia and Galesville-Ettrick-Trempealeau, performed on the iconic Amphitheater Stage with their A Capella Choirs to kick off the night’s musical entertainment. And headline entertainers Kellie Pickler and Chicago performed to more than more 10,000 people on the Ashley for the Arts Main Stage, followed by Locash rocking the Amphitheater stage to end the night’s festivities.
For the final day, local school districts started the music entertainment on the Amphitheater stage. The Independence Vocal Jazz Choir, Arcadia Middle School Choir and High School Marching Band, Whitehall’s Band, Eleva-Strum’s Choir and Band, Galesville-Ettrick-Trempealeau’s Jazz Band, Blair-Taylor’s Vocal Jazz “The Early Birds”, Osseo-Fairchild’s High School Choir and Band, Cochrane-Fountain City’s Jazz Band, and Winona Cotter’s Marching Band showcased their talents.
Later, more than 25,000 people gathered in the park to watch the headline performances from High Valley, Craig Morgan and American Authors on the Main Stage. A performance by X Ambassadors then filled the Amphitheater bowl.