Ponysaurus Brewing Co. is hosting “Don’t Be Mean to People: A Festival for the American Civil Liberties of North Carolina,” a two-day music festival October 19-20 with 20 acts including Wye Oak, Rafiq Bhatia, Superchunk (acoustic), and Kooley High. All of the proceeds from the festival benefit the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina, an organization with the mission of preserving and defending the guarantees of individual liberty found in the North Carolina Constitution and the U.S. Constitution.
The musicians performing at the festival include Wye Oak, Rafiq Bhatia, Superchunk (acoustic), Kooley High, Skylar Gudasz, Spider Bags, Body Games, Work Clothes, Tooth, The Hot at Nights Orchestra, Eugene Chadbourne, Shirlette Ammons and The Dynamite Brothers, ZenSoFly, Pie Face Girls, Al Riggs, Nathan Bowles & Joe Westerlund, The Dynamite Brothers, Polyorchard, and The Muslims.
A two-day general admission ticket cost $40. VIP tickets cost $150. As the concert approaches, single day tickets will be available. All proceeds will be donated to the ACLU of NC.
Friday, October 19th, Runaway, a Durham apparel and lifestyle brand, releases a co-branded collaboration capsule line with Ponysaurus Brewing Co. In conjunction, Ponysaurus Brewing Co. will release The Runaway IPA, a collaboration India Pale Ale brewed with the Runaway team.
The event’s name roots from Don’t Be Mean to People: A Golden Rule Saison, a collaborative beer brewed by Ponysaurus Brewing Co. with Mystery Brewing Company and over 40 other participants in 2016 to raise money and awareness around HB 2, a bill that these breweries believe “violates Golden Rule #000001.” The beer made national headlines and raised over $40,000 for Equality NC and Queer Oriented Radical Days of Summer, an organization that leads camping trips for queer and transgender youth.
The simple message of “Don’t Be Mean to People” is a commitment at Ponysaurus Brewing Co. for community engagement to protect the voices and rights of everyone. Last year, Ponysaurus Brewing Co. held the first Don’t Be Mean to People festival on May 6, 2017 to support the ACLU of NC. The event brought over 1,500 guests to the brewery and raised over $25,000.
“For this year’s Don’t Be Mean to People Festival, the goal was to build on the success of last year’s event by framing a more diverse lineup in all respects—genre and style, gender identity and national origin, race and location.” said festival music booker, Grayson Haver Currin. “That outlook speaks to the mission of the ACLU and the vital work they do to advocate for ideas and equality.”
Ponysaurus Brewing Co. is looking for enthusiastic, hard-working volunteers.Volunteers will receive a t-shirt and free two-day admission to the festival.
For more information about the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina, participating artists, and to purchase tickets, visit www.ponysaurusbrewing.com.
Author: Katelyn Belch
Founder of Best of the Bull and Shop Durham. It’s my chief goal to keep you in the know about all things Durham.
