The Lost Woods Music Festival returns to the Cedar Falls area for its third iteration on Saturday. What started as a party in the woods in 2023 has… kept on being a party in the woods, actually. Salt Fox, the band behind the fest, have resisted the scope creep that plagues so many other festival ventures. Although it’s more official — hello, 501(c)3 status — Lost Woods’ organizers promise to stick to their true-north virtues of following their instincts and having the most fun possible while doing so.
Little Village spoke to Salt Fox guitarist Andy Fuchman about the Lost Woods journey, past, present and future.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
One change for this year’s Lost Woods Festival is ticketing (previous years were a pay-what-you-want system). Can you talk about the conversations that lead to this decision?
This festival started as a conversation between friends about throwing a party by a gazebo on a bike trail, and ballooned as we kept saying yes to our instincts about what would make it more fun. We realized early on that we were up to something that was bigger than a party with our friends, but we needed some time to work it out.
We have had more fun (and worked harder) than we ever imagined the first two years, but from an organizational perspective, the festival functioned as a large and very expensive party. We decided we wanted to keep this thing going — but to be sustainable it had to become a bit more official. So this year we formed a 501(c)3 nonprofit and started selling tickets. Nobody will ever get rich off the Lost Woods Festival, but we hope to create a sustainable operation so that we can keep doing it.
Lost Woods shucks a lot of conventions when it comes to modern-day music festivals, one of them being recurring acts. (An example: Jim Swim has played in each iteration.) What has you bringing back faces?
We love everything about Jim Swim. So does everyone else who’s been to the festival. In a larger sense, we are on a steep learning curve with almost every aspect of operating a festival, and in the absence of experience we have chosen to fall back on our core decision-making rubric as I mentioned before: what seems like the most fun? It has served us well so far.
What would you say is the Lost Woods sound? Is there a musical or aesthetic thread that you feel weaves through this year’s lineup?
We have attempted to book acts that would be enjoyable to watch and listen to while hanging out with your friends in the woods and forgetting all your problems. We’ve tried to feature acts from Iowa because we love being from Iowa and are proud of the many talented musicians around the state. That’s as close as we have gotten to an aesthetic.
Say this is someone’s first experience with the festival. What can they can expect? Is there anything you’d like a newcomer to know beforehand?
Big time. First, it’s a bit of a walk back from the parking lot to the stage area so prepare for that. There are food and drink vendors back there and plenty to explore. And thank you for joining us for an afternoon/evening that we have worked really hard on, we are super excited to share it with you.
Are there any goals/dreams for future fests?
The goal honestly is to do a good enough job that we can keep on saying yes to our instincts about what would be fun to do back there. The land is large and there are lots of possibilities, and we are hoping if we work hard we might be able to open those doors.
Event details:
Lost Woods Music Festival, 1400 E Lone Tree Rd, Cedar Falls, Saturday, Sept. 27, $50
