SarethFest Music and Comedy Festival

History

Sareth-Fest Music and Comedy Festival is an annual festival in Pueblo, Colo.

The festival known as Sareth-Fest Music and Comedy Festival began in 2010, when Ney was apprenticing with his favorite artist, Clive Barker. One of his former employees suggested he have a small festival in his name with short films. He made a big deal over it on social media and it did not go over too well with the former vice president of the company. Especially, when he said he would have a Q&A session afterwards. He was inspired by the special screenings in Los Angeles, when other film directors had a Q&A session after their films.

After taking a four year hiatus to focus on concert journalism, Ney returned to Colo. He noticed his local music scene hardly received any press by the local publications. After writing about the majority of his favorite musicians on stage out west, he decided to apply his concert journalism and write about all of the local musicians in his hometown via a major online publication.

As the months passed by in Colo., Ney ventured into stand-up comedy and some of the footage can be found on YouTube. He highly recommends watching them from the comforts of your home because they are not safe for work (NSFW).

When Ney announced he was planning to move, he wanted to book one small concert and announced it on a social networking website. Musicians from almost every genre, almost every act he publicized and his comedian friends commented on it. It became a two day event and expanded to three days. Then, it became an actual festival and it took over three different venues. It needed a name and one of the musicians, Jeremiah B., resurrected the name from the dead.

A couple of months later, Ney asked which acts would like to be on the bill for the festival. Some of the same bands, as well as new bands commented on his status update. It expanded to seven days, six venues, over 50 acts and almost every genre of music. In 2015, he screened his award winning film, “The Narcoleptics”.

Musicians who perform original music and comedians with original jokes, Sareth-Fest Music and Comedy Festival helps shine the light on them. It also helps artists perform at venues in which they have yet to perform. It benefits the local businesses, non-profit organizations and more.

Mission

Sareth-Fest Music and Comedy Festival honors the musicians and comedians of Pueblo. The reason why the festival exists is because it shows the variety of talented artists the city offers. The markets we serve go beyond the limits of Pueblo County. The benefits include: helping businesses succeed and reach new clients, individuals and companies to market their brands and it promotes tourism.

Our goal is to help raise funds for local artists to take their career to the next level. The problems we hope to overcome are helping everyone involved generate revenue, provide artists places to perform and keep live entertainment venues from joining the 20+ empty storefronts in downtown Pueblo. The internal work environment we strive to achieve are to bring the city together, to have them discover new music and to laugh at life with comedy.