Chipotle’s Cultivate Festival makes its Kansas City debut on Saturday at Penn Valley Park

July 14, 2015

Natalie Gallagher,

Chipotle’s Cultivate Festival has been stopping at various cities since the summer of 2011, but this is the first year the food and music event stakes its flag in Kansas City. In addition to some tasty eats and libations — provided by Chipotle and a couple local vendors — Saturday’s fest will also offer food exhibitions and chef demos.

That’s all spliced between sets from a rather impressive lineup, starting with headliners Portugal, the Man. Also on deck: South Africa-via-Brooklyn electro-pop act St. Lucia, power-pop foursome Smallpools (think Passion Pit on a formidable sugar high), the badass Betty Who, producer-songwriter Max Frost and resident Chipotle DJ Christopher Golub.

Scott Robinson, Chipotle’s national events manager, says that Kansas City was always on the short list for potential Cultivate locations.

“The impetus for bringing the festival to Kansas City is that there is a very strong Chipotle market there,” Robinson says. “Cultivate was always meant to be a traveling festival, and so we get really excited to bring it to new places. We thought Kansas City was a really great place for what we wanted to do.”

On the food side, the Kansas City Cultivate Fest welcomes a host of national personalities: Tim Love, host of CNBC’s “Restaurant Startup” and chef-owner of several acclaimed Dallas-Fort Worth area restaurants; Lachlan Patterson and Bobby Stuckey, co-owners of Boulder, Colorado’s Frasca Food and Wine and the original Pizzeria Locale; Graham Elliot, a judge on Fox’s MasterChef and chef-owner of Graham Elliot Bistro in Chicago; Amanda Freitag, a judge on the Food Network’s Chopped and chef-owner of NYC’s Empire Diner. There is one notable local name as well: James Beard Award-winner Colby Garrelts, chef and co-owner of Rye and Bluestem.

Given Garrelts’ involvement, it seems odd that Chipotle passed on bringing in a local act to the music bill. But that was not, Robinson says, for lack of trying.

“Every year has grown in terms of the kind of talent that we book, and we’ve gotten bigger and bigger as we’ve gone along,” Robinson says. “We always do try to book a local band, and the two we looked at in Kansas City — Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear and Hembree — were already booked. After that, we moved onto other artists that we had been wanting to book, like Max Frost, who’s from Austin. We did try [to bring in a local act], but sometimes it just doesn’t work out.”

Robinson emphasizes that the focus of Cultivate isn’t entirely on the music.

“We want it to be inclusive,” he says. “At a typical festival, you get mostly fans of the bands that are playing, and at Cultivate it’s a very different experience. Music is a major driver of attendance, no doubt about it, but at our festival we’ve got fans of Chipotle or people who have been watching Amanda [Freitag] on ‘Chopped’ and want to see her. We’ve got parents who can bring their kids. I think this works because it’s for everyone, and people can check it out on their own accord.”

Other big draws, Robinson adds, is the special menu for the day — provided in Kansas City by Chipotle, of course, as well as Pizzeria Locale and Shophouse Kitchen. The “Tasting Hall” will offer close to 60 beers from local breweries — including a one-off brew from Boulevard, the Cultivate Farmhouse Ale.

“This isn’t about making money,” Robinson says, “it’s about having people come out and try delicious food. We’ve got some fun expos set up, and I personally think music makes the party no matter what.”

Chipotle Cultivate Festival goes down Saturday, July 18, at Penn Valley Park from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. The event is free and all ages. Details here.

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