Honoring Jon Gregoire

Legacy of co-founder lives on with third annual Lynchstock Music Festival

While it would have been easy for Jon Smalt to walk away from planning the Lynchstock Music Festival following the tragic death of his friend and co-founder Jon Gregoire last fall, Smalt chose to honor Jon Gregoire with another year of music and unity within Lynchburg.

After two years of observing the artistic abilities of musicians in Lynchburg, this year’s event will focus on celebrating the life of Jon Gregoire by honoring his vision. Jon Gregoire died last November after being hit by a train on a trestle over the James River in Lynchburg.

While many may think the festival is a way of “preserving” Jon Gregoire’s memory, Smalt said that is not the case. According to Smalt, “preserving” implies stopping something where it is rather than continuing to cherish a legacy.

“A better way (to say it) is we aren’t preserving, but taking what (Jon Gregoire) started and allowing it to grow,” Smalt said.

According to Smalt, a Liberty alumnus who is also a member of the band Glass Oaks, Jon Gregoire and he shared a passion for music and the Lynchburg community, which led them to co-found Lynchstock in 2013.

“(Jon Gregoire) saw Lynchburg as a community that needed the support and love of the LU students,” Mark Gregoire, Jon Gregoire’s father, said. “He wanted this to bring them together.”

The first Lynchstock Music Festival started with four bands and 200 people. Last year, around 1,000 people attended the event.

According to Smalt, both Jon Gregoire and he hoped Lynchstock would continue to grow, and Smalt is projecting 2,000-3,000 attendees this year.

Mark Gregoire said he hopes to see an even bigger number of people impacted by the festival.

“It is our hope and prayer that as many as 10,000 will turn out to this annual festival and enjoy themselves with friends, meet new people, possibly share Jesus with someone and honor God in worship and praise,” Mark Gregoire said.

Mark Gregoire asked the Liberty community to join him in praying that these 10,000 people would not only listen to the music, but also see the gospel being portrayed through art.

This year’s theme goes along with Smalt’s vision — building. According to Smalt, Lynchstock’s purpose is to unite the community and grow it together to break artistic and institutional divides and celebrate music and the arts together.

“To see so many different artists and people come together, there’s nothing like it,” Smalt said.

According to Smalt, he and Jon Gregoire had only had one meeting to plan for Lynchstock 2015 prior to Jon Gregoire’s death, but Jon Gregoire was excited and passionate and was looking forward to seeing what would happen.

Jon Gregoire’s parents will attend the festival this year for the first time.

“We are excited to see, in person, the vision of Jon Gregoire and Jon Smalt come together,” Mark Gregoire said. “Jon Smalt intends this to be part of both of their (legacies), as they both loved Lynchburg and Liberty University with true compassion.”

The Lynchstock Music Festival will take place April 18 from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. at 14900 Forest Road in Forest, Virginia. Twenty bands, including four nationally recognized groups such as Dogwood and Holly, will perform. Several of the band members knew Jon Gregoire, and many have written songs inspired by him, according to Mark Gregoire.

While many bands will be on stage during the festival, poets and spoken word artists will also contribute to the festival during the Listening, an hour of spoken word and poetry, according to the Lynchstock website.

Because charity was very important to Jon Gregoire, this year’s spoken word artists, poets and other Lynchstock performers partnered with Miriam’s House, a charity in Lynchburg that helps homeless, single mothers and their children.

For more information about Lynchstock, visit the Lynchstock Music Festival Facebook page or lynchstockmusicfestival.com

GLOSSNER is a feature reporter.