Meet the Monfest team

Brief interviews with the people making the magic happen

We are excited to bring you behind the scenes of the Middle of NOWhere Rural Art & Music Festival with interviews featuring the MONfest team.

Our resident Wordsmith KCF asked each of our MONfest team five fun questions as way of pulling the curtain back a little bit for fans of the Middle of NOWhere Art & Music Festival.

We hope you enjoy!

MEEt our team - featuring Kaleb "Kub" Stevens

KCF: If you had to name a mission statement for your life and/or your creative practice, what would it be

Kub: My mission is to to strengthen the bonds among people and our environments. I am passionate about creating spaces that celebrate art, humanity, and the places we call home.

KCF: Would you share with us a favorite song that you're particularly proud of and that you recently created?

Kub: I'm proud of my song 'gingerbread' that I released last year. Writing songs has been a creative throughline for me from my childhood to now, and I love watching how my songs evolve as I am doing the same.

gingerbread Kub Stevens PREVIEW   ​

KCF: Tell us about your relationship to rural places and why you see the work of the Middle of NOWhere Festival as so important in these times?

Kub: I lived my earliest years on a small farm outside of Story City, and growing up, spent summers on my grandparents farm in Jones County. I have always felt myself rooted in the soil of the rural places I call home, and the legacies of the people, plants, and animals that have also called this place home speak to me as soon as I exit city limits.

The Middle of NOWhere Festival is urgently needed as a beacon to welcome everyone to these rural homes that have so much capacity to sustain life, and I can't wait to see who joins the family this year.

KCF: When you're not making music or organizing set lists, what's your favorite hobby or pastime?

Kub: I love that I have reconnected with my love of reading over the past three years and now spend some blessed time everyday in a book or two. I also love playing computer games that let me feel like I run the world.

KCF: If you were truly stuck in the middle of nowhere who would you choose to bring with you and why?

Kub: If I am to be stuck in the middle of nowhere, I will be stuck there with the love of my life, Flo Milli. Together, we will forge a lasting bond and survive everything that is thrown at us. When we escape our exile and return to metropolitan centers, she will bring me on to her team as official door opener and we will enjoy a blissful future.

Thank you Kub for your responses!

Stay tuned for more interviews with our team in upcoming newsletters. In the meantime, you can catch Kub on IG and TikTok.

And follow the MONfest socials below where you can catch snippets about the people and the festival we're building together.

In rural we vibe,

KCF and the MONFest Team

PS: Did you catch that we released the musical line up joining us on July 12th on our social feeds?! This is Kub's hard work in action! More to come on the performers here to your inbox soon, but for now, please enjoy this snack.

PPS: Don't forget to mark your calendars for Sunday June 15th 2:00-5:00pm MONFest Fundraiser where the exclusive Siricasso wine will be available for purchase... until it's gone. You're not going to want to miss it! Stay up to day on this event -