Mitchell Airport Participated in a Virtual Musical Festival with Local Artists

Almost a week ago, Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport participated in the JetStream Music Festival, a virtual festival of 23 airports that was put together to support local musicians during the COVID-19 crisis. Along with each artist being exposed to thousands of people virtually, viewers were able to donate directly to the artist of their choice.

The festival had around 37,000 viewers on Facebook.

Airports such as Dallas, Toronto, San Diego and Seattle turned on their Facebook lives at 5 p.m. CST to share free music with the world. The event was hosted by Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.

According to Mitchell Airport’s on-call Marketing and Media Relations Coordinator Christie Green, the host of the festival reached out to other airports on an airport social media group about possible participation. Within 15 minutes, airports were commenting their interest, and by two weeks, 22 had committed. Green also mentioned that each airport was in charge of promoting the festival, creating their own press releases and finding local talent to perform.

“Right away, we knew this would be a great opportunity to support our passengers,” Green said about Mitchell Airport participating in the festival.

“You’re kind of traveling when you watch the festival,” she added.

When it came time to choosing local talent to perform during the festival, it didn’t take Mitchell Airport much time to pick. Earlier this year, the local band Rhythm Kings had performed at the opening of the Summerfest Marketplace, which resides in the airport. Rhythm Kings had done such a good job, the airport wanted to have them back for JetStream.

“They did an amazing job. They knocked everyone’s socks off,” Green said.

Rhythm Kings member Marcell Guyton said it was an interesting performance. He’s used to performing live and receiving feedback from the audience, but this time the camera was their audience. Since the performance was live, viewers were able to comment as the Rhythm Kings played, which Guyton considers their feedback.

Guyton performed with his son Sam Guyton, who also performed with the band at the grand opening of the Summerfest Marketing store.

“It was great,” said Guyton.

According to Guyton, it’s been tough for him and the band during this crisis, but they won’t let this stop them.

“The music is still alive. We can turn this negative into a positive,” he said.

“You can take this time and polish your craft,” Guyton added.

As we continue our time a part, Mitchell Airport is excited and are participating the return of travelers. To see the full list of precautions when it comes to the airport and COVID-19, click here.

To watch Rhythm Kings perform at the JetStream Music Festival, click here. To find out more about Marcell Guyton, click here. To stay up-to-date with the Rhythm Kings, click here.

The Rhythm King’s new single, “Get in the Groove” will be released on iTunes on May 18, 2020.