tool name

Saturday, Sep. 05, 2009

Bigger acts, bigger crowds

After four years, you can safely say that if it is the Sunday before Labor Day, it's time to party at Quest Community Church.

Questapalooza started in 2006 on a modest-but- ambitious scale, inviting ex-dc talker-now-Newsboy Tait in to headline a day of music and youthful fun at the church grounds off Reynolds Road. Each year since, the event has upped the ante, bringing in bigger acts that attract bigger crowds.

This year, two legitimate headliners and Christian music icons in their own right, Third Day and Jars of Clay, top the bill as well as up-and-coming vocal act Group 1 Crew.

The wildcard is that you could open for Third Day.

Questapalooza will feature the finals of The Fame, an American Idol-like singing contest that has been going on around town for several weeks and will culminate in semifinals on the main stage and the winner singing just before Third Day. Last year's festival included a Guitar Hero competition, and winner Henry Shrader got to school Kutless guitarist Nick De Partee in the video game on the main stage.

"We wanted to give more of the community a way to participate," Quest assistant pastor Justin McCarty says of the contest. There will be a chance to audition for the contest on the festival grounds early Sunday.

"Early," this year, will be a little later than in the past.

Although Questapalooza is getting bigger headliners and bigger crowds — more than 6,000 turned out last year — the event will dial back its hours, starting at 4 p.m. instead of 2 this year.

"We've found that period between 2 and 4 is the grayest part of the day," McCarty says, meaning the crowd is smaller and activities aren't quite as focused. "Moving it back gets us past the main heat of the day. We wanted to offer people the full experience for the whole time."

Moving back, the festival will lose one of its most attention-grabbing elements: open-air baptisms, which took place near the main stage early in the day.

"We love the baptisms, and we hope to hold another outdoor baptism this year before it starts getting cold," McCarty says. "But we wanted to change things up a little bit this year."

This is the second year that Questapalooza has run on Labor Day weekend. Previously, it was the last week in August, but McCarty says that the three-day weekend seemed to work better for people and relieved the pressure of having to wrap things up because it's a school night.

McCarty says the bands will still play extended sets, and there will be other attractions, including more kids activities and fireworks to close out the night.

The church has never been shy about the fact that the event is designed, in part, to attract people to Quest. This year, the festival arrives in conjunction with the opening of the church's new 2,400-seat auditorium, which will have its first service at 5:55 p.m. Saturday.

"It's going to feel amazing in there," McCarty says.

The church will be closed during Questapalooza for security reasons and because it will be a staging area for the festival and its volunteers.

But McCarty says, "Hopefully people will get a sense of what's going on in the building. We may not have Third Day every weekend, but you still may want to check it out."

Looking ahead

After Questapalooza, there are several other Christian pop concerts in the area that you might want to put on the calendar, including the first national act to play in Quest's new auditorium:

■ Jeremy Camp, Natalie Grant and Bebo Norman play Quest at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 24. Tickets are $25 or $20 each for groups of 10 or more. Call 1-800-965-9324 or go to www.itickets.com.

■ Michael Card plays Ashland Avenue Baptist Church, 483 West Reynolds Road, at 7 p.m. Sept. 26. The concert is free, but donations will support world missions.

■ Casting Crowns returns to Rupp Arena with Matt Redman at 7 p.m. Oct. 8. Tickets are $17 to $76 and are available at the Lexington Center Ticket Office, all TicketMaster outlets and www.rupparena.com, or by calling (859) 233-3535.

■ Starlit Platoon, featuring Brandon Estelle of Superchick fame, and Days Divide play South Elkhorn Baptist Church, 4867 Versailles Road, at 6 p.m. Oct. 10.