More than 600 folks attended the sixth annual Sowderfest on the 56th anniversary of Woodstock. at Ocean Isle Beach’s beautiful Town Center Park on May 3.
Diane and Steve Sowder, of Ocean Isle Beach, hosted the 6th annual SowderFest as a celebration of anniversary the historic Woodstock Music and Arts Exposition on Max Yasgur’s farm near Bethel, NY.
The Sowders had purchased a lovely home in the Ocean Isle Palms development before that venture failed curing the economic crash in 2009, and with their love of music (and at that time not too many neighbors), began the tradition in and around their home. The development is now going full tilt with new homes everywhere and with an HOA in place it was no longer viable to hold the festival at that location.
So Steve and Diane came up with a plan and approached the Town of Ocean Isle Beach requesting to move the festival to OIB’s beautiful Town Center park and make it a charity for Brunswick Family Assistance (BFA), a “transformative, forward-looking organization that helps low-income families in Brunswick County to live a high quality of life.” It’s devoted to “improving the lives of families and individuals in crisis in Brunswick County by providing critical assistance to those working towards self-sufficiency.”
The couple went one step further to add to the appeal. They convinced the bands (Steve is the bassist in one of them) to play for free and charge no admission.
The bands were: Steve Howard, Chip and the Blocks, Stone Cold Blues, and Trublmkrz.
The family friendly festival was free to attend, however, donations were requested for Brunswick Family Assistance. Between donations and T-Shirt sales over $7,200 was raised, with donations were still coming in! Steve and Diane Sowder can certainly be proud of the event which bears their name.
The weather was very cooperative and a fabulous was had by all! The Sowders are already working on SowderFest VII for 2026!
