MISSOULA — While the first Zootown Festival has officially wrapped, the clean up and reactions were ongoing Sunday. As crews worked to take down the stages, pack up gear and leave the Missoula County Fairgrounds spotless — vendors and crowds reflected on the experience.
One of those vendors was Missoula staple, Worden’s Market. They served up sandwiches and smiles both at the festival and their usual spot in Downtown Missoula.
“Nothing brings the gregarious nature of people out like music and festivals and things like that, and we sort of specialize in that sort of thing here at Worden’s,” Owner Matt Muhsam said.
At Zootown, they fed and fed off the energy of customers from all over.
“We had a lot of great conversations, like I said, with people from all across the country that were just stoked to be here and thought we lived in the most beautiful place on the planet,” he said. “The influx of people has been great for the summer season for all of us.”
Overall, Muhsam enjoyed the festival. But, he was hoping that the local food options would have a spot closer to the crowds.
“I think it's the first year of a festival where they have lots of things to take away from the experience and lessons to learn and stuff like that. As food vendors, we could have done better with feeling more a part of the festival,” he said. “Missoula is a local town and with a capital L. I think we felt like we could have been a better help to them maybe in including us in a way that made us feel part of all of what was going on.”
But, Muhsam said he thinks the organizers are ultimately doing a good thing for a good place and he is looking forward to hearing the music next year.
“Yeah, we're looking forward to that,” he said. “We'd be happy to be a part of it.”
MTN reached out to Zootown Organizer and University of Montana graduate, Scott Osburn, for his thoughts on the festival. Stay tuned as we follow up with him in a few days about how the event went down in Missoula.
