This weekend’s first annual Workers Revival Fest promises some work, plenty of play — and Downtown Boys

Though the objective of this month’s first annual Workers Revival Fest is to improve labor conditions here in the Kansas City area, the inspiration behind it was 5,000 miles away, in Uruguay. Last year, Missouri Jobs with Justice organizer Natalie Patrick-Knox attended a labor conference in the country and was taken aback by its vibrant atmosphere. The venue wasn’t a dull auditorium or convention center. It was held mostly outside. There was live music, food, and drinks. It was fun. 

“We started talking about why there’s no equivalent to that here,” says Patrick-Knox’s husband, Ron Knox. “[An event that] speaks to a different kind of person than somebody who’s already familiar with the labor movement and its issues and is happy just sitting in some conference room and participating in a panel.” 

The timing for such an event also seemed particularly ripe. Corporate monopolies, decades of stagnant wages, and Republican-led efforts to weaken unions, slash state budgets, and redirect taxes to the already-rich have been disastrous for the average American worker. This is, of course, old news for activists and labor organizations. But lately it seems as if we might finally be reaching a tipping point. Workers are fed up. You can glimpse it in the fast-food employees’ fight for a $15 minimum wage and the teacher’s walkouts in West Virginia and Oklahoma. 

These movements are heavy lifts, though. The challenge lies in routing general concern about workers’ issues into the local organizations that lay the groundwork to make change. That’s where the Workers Revival Fest hopes it can add some value. Through two days of live music, workshops, and speakers, it aims to energize the uninitiated and introduce participants to the tools of labor organizing.

Few bands on earth mirror the ethos of something like the Workers Revival Fest as closely as the Rhode Island punk act Downtown Boys. So it’s especially impressive that the organizers — Patrick-Knox, Knox (an occasional contributor to The Pitch), and Missouri Jobs with Justice organizing director Justin Stein — were able to secure a performance from the band for this first-time fest.

“Downtown Boys literally started because they were trying to organize the hotel they were all working at in Providence,” Knox says. “That’s, like, their origin story. It couldn’t be a better fit.” 

Downtown Boys’ vocalist, Victoria Ruiz, is even leading one of the many workshops scheduled over the course of the fest’s two days. Others will touch on topics such as neighborhood organizing and the connections between visual art and the labor movement. Former Chiefs player and current construction union advocate and Missouri Senate candidate Martin Rucker will give a talk, as will Noisey metal editor Kim Kelly, who — when she’s not breaking down the history of capitalism in Teen Vogue or writing about anti-fascist fantasy metal bands — is active in the Vice Union. (The full lineup of events can be found at workersrevival.com.) 

One of the five local music acts rounding out the Workers Revival is the long-active punk band Red Kate, whose bassist-vocalist, L. Ron Drunkard, is an activist in his own right. He sees the fest as an opportunity to build back some of the IRL community that’s been lost in the age of social media. Also: a chance for the city’s hard-working activists to take a load off and celebrate their accomplishments. 

“We don’t often, as organizers, stop and take a breath and say ‘Hey, we did a good job,’” he says. “You can burn out really easily if you don’t, every now and then, stop and get some appreciation from people, show appreciation to others, and just have a good time.”

Workers Revival Fest. May 11-12 at RecordBar and Collection. Set times and ticket info at WorkersRevival.com.