Steve Ewing’s STLOriginals Music Festival to Highlight Homegrown Bands, Raise Funds to Fight Hunger

Steve Ewing’s STLOriginals Music Festival to Highlight Homegrown Bands, Raise Funds to Fight Hunger

Steve Ewing’s STLOriginals Festival will be held on Sunday, Oct. 2, in Ritz Park on South Grand – the pocket park that attaches to the patio of Steve’s Hot Dogs. 

This will be the first year for the festival and our goal is to really celebrate St. Louis’s homegrown creators – while leaving a positive mark on the community at the end of the day. The performers are hand-picked by Steve – as he works to foster up-and-coming St. Louis music talent

Danni Eickenhorst, co-owner of Steve’s Hot Dogs, “Some of our customers that frequent Steve’s Hot Dogs don’t always make the connection that Hot Dog Steve is also accomplished Musician Steve Ewing. It’s always fun to see their faces once they figure it out,” she said.

Founder and fearless leader Steve Ewing has seen the world touring as the frontman with bands like The Urge, Master Blaster and the Steve Ewing band. He has shared the bill with musical heavyweights such as 311, Korn, and Incubus, releasing 3 major records with Epic Records and Virgin records, charting in Billboard’s top 100 and hitting alternative radio’s Top 10. Ewing did all of this while calling St. Louis his home base. Now Steve is working on his next phase – nurturing new homegrown talent and finding new ways to give back to the community that has given him so much.

We will have live art creation, locally grown musical talent including Boomtown United, Orangetree, Midwest Avengers and more. We will highlight emerging talent as well with performances by Mary Clare Dunphy, Kathleen Teeter and the young talent at School of Rock, Eickenhorst said.

The one-day festival will also raise funds to support Steve’s Hot Dogs Feed the People program – which provides about $10,000 in meals for the hungry and first responders in the St. Louis community.

About 85% of the meals we give away are distributed to partners who address food insecurity in our community – including St. Patrick’s Center, and the Waymakers Chapel for the Exceptional. The remainder are given to first responders in our community as our way of thanking them for all they do in our times of need. 

The program is funded by customers of Steve’s Hot Dogs who purchase meals from the restaurant. The meals are then allocated in a fund and distributed through community partnerships. Our hope is to say “Yes” whenever we’re asked to give. We are on pace to give away about 1,000 meals this year – including 150 to first responders by the end of October, but donations are running low, so the STLOriginals concert and its fundraising are coming at an ideal time.

Those who attend the concert will be able to donate to Feed the People by buying a meal on the spot, signing up for recurring meal donations, by participating in a raffle for donated prizes, buying t-shirts or grabbing a meal at Steve’s Hot Dogs – which will allocate 15% of all sales during the event to the help replenish the fund. Those that can’t attend in person are invited to donate a one-time meal purchase or to set up a recurring purchase of meals each month online.

The event is free to the public thanks to sponsorship from local partners including Sysco, 4 Hands Brewing, Country Financial, Toast, and more. There is built-in seating in Ritz Park, but guests are encouraged to bring lawn chairs in the event that none is open. Free parking is available behind Commerce Bank along Hartford at South Grand. More information is available at https://www.steveshotdogsstl.com/stloriginals.