Orrville natives take big idea to big stage with Country Fest
Orrville residents and longtime friends Joel Beichler, left, and Aaron Green in front of the stage at a recent Country Fest, the annual music festival the two put on at Clay's Park. They’ll hold weekend shows June 16-19 and July 22-24, overseeing a budget that’s expected to top $4 million for the summer.
Most soon-to-be college graduates would spend the majority of time during a vacation in California finding as many ways as possible to have fun.
Orrville resident Aaron Green focused his time back in 2009 plotting out his future, and he’ll be forever glad he did that. So will his best friend, Joel Beichler, who’s been his business partner ever since.
“I got two books and read them: ‘The 4-Hour Workweek,’ which was a pretty interesting lifestyle book, and a book on concert promotion,” Green said. “I had finished my college classes at Akron and couldn’t graduate until about six more weeks, so I was just thinking about all kinds of stuff while I was in California.”
Green and Beichler were both early 2000 Orrville graduates and already good friends who had enjoyed working together as disc jockeys at weddings, proms, school dances and local bars.
They formed the JAB Entertainment Company in 2007, which was part-time work, but they knew it wouldn’t ever support a family. And who wants to work every weekend?
When Green returned from California, he pitched two big ideas to Beichler: a milk-based energy drink brand or a country music festival business.
“I had recently seen that a festival had just left Clay’s Park, and I’d been interested in music promotions since writing a college paper on it,” Green said.
“That’s stupid,” Beichler recalled saying in response to the energy drink plan, although in hindsight Green was forward-thinking with that idea. “I told Aaron, ‘You get the meeting for the music festival and I’ll go.' That’s kind of how it all started.”
Fast forward to May 2021, and Project Live LLC, co-owned by Green and Beichler, is finalizing plans for its 11th year holding Country Fest at Clay's Park Resort, 12951 Patterson St. NW, North Lawrence. They’ll hold weekend shows June 16-19 and July 22-24, overseeing a budget that’s expected to top $4 million for the summer.
It costs a great deal of money to bring in top-notch entertainment, as well as pay for everything from ticketing to Porta Potties. Despite being shut down in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Green and Beichler love where they’re at as things are starting to get back to normal.
With virtually no marketing as of May 1, Country Fest advance ticket sales are right on pace with sales in 2019.
“We went from a couple million dollars in revenue in 2019 to $15,000 in 2020 due to COVID,” Green said. “We were lucky enough to weather the storm through careful planning.
“We understand that some people still won’t be comfortable going to a concert, but based on the advance ticket sales for this summer, we see a lot of people want to get back out doing things like this. Look at all the people who went to the NFL Draft in Cleveland. We are working with the Stark County Health Department and commissioners to be as safe as possible, including having an expanded seating area and a (staggered) ticketing program.”
Beichler said, “It took longer than Aaron’s business plan to make any money,” but he’s glad they rounded up the original $60,000 investment between their own savings and family members to get started.
“It was a slow grind up, but it does make you feel good to see how far we’ve come,” said Beichler, a former Orrville football standout and state discus champion. “I think the future is gonna be really bright. There are new owners of Clay's Park, who own 18 other campgrounds, and we are hoping to expand what we’re doing. That would be a game-changer.”
Unlikely promoters
Saying they wanted to put on a Country Fest and actually doing it were two very different things, Green and Beichler quickly learned. Getting Clay's Park to sign a contract was the easy part; getting talent to sign on was an entirely different matter.
A good country music song could be written about the events the buddies have gone through over the last decade.
“I’d call agencies, and they’d hang up on me,” said Green, who was the center for former OHS football quarterback great Tim Hiller. “Or they’d talk for a little bit but then say, ‘You don’t have enough money’ or ‘You have no connections.’”
The big break came when they were put in touch with Nashville music legend Jimmy Jay, owner of Jayson Promotions. He had helped manage the likes of Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn and saw something he liked in the two youngsters from Orrville.
“We had no idea what we were doing, but Jimmy Jay liked us and looked at us like, ‘OK, we’re gonna teach you how we do this,’” Beichler said.
Jay is in his 70s now, but Green and Beichler still regularly consult with him.
“We’ll be forever grateful to Jimmy Jay for giving us a chance,” Green said.
With Jay’s help the first act Project Live signed for its inaugural 2010 Country Fest was Dierks Bentley.
“We call Dierks ‘The Godfather of Country Fest’ because he's the first guy that gave us a shot, and we grew from there,” Green said.
Some of the other top country music acts they’ve booked include Blake Shelton, Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert, Luke Combs and Brad Paisley.
Green recalled working on Country Fest during days and nights for Smith’s Dairy in 2010. While loading products onto trucks, he’d get a thrill each time his phone would chime with a notification that a concert ticket had sold.
They didn’t sell enough tickets, though, and didn’t capitalize on sponsors the way they’ve learned to since. The first show lost $20,000.
“We had been told it would probably take three years before we’d make any money, but still, it was devastating to lose that money for kids making $8-$10 an hour,” Green said.
The duo went back to the drawing board in a spare bedroom office in Beichler’s house. They worked harder and smarter in year two, and to the surprise of many, they turned a profit. They’ve continued to learn and grow ever since.
Project Live is now based out of an office building on Mount Eaton Road in Orrville. Red Rider alum Hillary Plybon, director of development, and Norwayne alum Jill Hanzie, director of sponsorship, have been added as full-time employees.
They have branched out and helped other groups set up musical entertainment including the Stark County Fair. They’re planning a return of their Classic Country Festival “Neon Nights” in 2022, which in the past has featured acts such as Alabama, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Toby Keith.
Green and Beichler have seen their own families grow. They’re both married, and each have three kids. Countless family members and friends have helped them in a variety of roles at the Country Fest events.
Green still hasn’t found a way to have a four-hour work week, though — not even close. However, his California dreamin' has led to a unique job and partnership with Beichler.
“Our motto is under promise and over deliver,” Green said. “We've been super blessed. A lot of things have broken our way, but we also outwork anyone. We’ll even clean toilets or take out the trash. We’ll do anything to make sure people have a good time. There's no doubt in my mind that's why we're still here.”
The Country Fest June 16-19 features Luke Combs, Old Dominion, Sam Hunt and Chris Janson while The Country Fest 2 July 22-24 is headlined by Jake Owen, Chris Young and Dierks Bentley. For more information and ticket options, visit www.thecountryfest.com.
Aaron Dorksen can be emailed at aarondorksen24@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter at @AaronDorksen.