M3F, also known as the McDowell Mountain Music Festival, returns to Steele Indian School Park for its 21st year on March 7 and 8 with headliners LCD Soundsystem and Justice. Wepsac Construction sponsors the two-day festival where all proceeds go directly back to the community through a variety of Arizona beneficiaries. Tickets are still available here.
“Every ticket counts,” says Rachel Blanchard, the festival director for M3F Fund.
The M3F beneficiaries fall under four categories: community, art, education and environment and often overlap between the categories. Cowtown S.K.A.T.E. promotes community, art and education by arming kids with graphic design skills while also teaching them how to skateboard. Cultural Coalition, another charity receiving funds from M3F, promotes connections within Latiné, Chicano and Indigenous communities while also educating people about their cultures.
“M3F Fund’s commitment in support of our mission to connect communities and generations to ancestral knowledge and practices through artistic cultural preservation and programs has made a profound impact on uplifting local artists, celebrating diverse cultures, and inspiring youth through the arts,” Cultural Coalition shares in a statement.
The festival brings in big-name bands and artists to draw in a crowd and raise funds for over 40 charities. This year’s notable names include ALVVAYS, BADBADNOTGOOD and Sylvan Esso.
The festival also has craft cocktails and a vendor village where people can create their own custom denim jackets. M3F also worked closely with Phoenix Magazine to bring in local food vendors to highlight Phoenix cuisine.
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M3F’s lineup and local vendors make the festival stand out, but it still has competition. There are countless events throughout the Valley at any given time — including other music festivals.
“March is a busy time and we realize we’re not the only event in Phoenix, so we try not to take it personally,” Blanchard says.
Despite the competition, M3F brings in tens of thousands of attendees each year leading to the continued funding of charities around Arizona.
M3F launched in 2004, roughly 13 years after Wespac was founded in 1991. Wespac was looking to host a charity event but wanted to do something different than a gala, and a music festival had never been done in the Valley before, Blanchard says.
To put on the festival, Wespac employee volunteers work side-by-side with around 400 public volunteers. M3F is a unique team-building exercise for Wespac employees, but it also gives back to the community, a win-win for everyone.
It takes a lot to set up and take down everything needed for the festival hosted at Steele Indian School Park. And all in a matter of days too. The Wespac team and public volunteers work tirelessly to achieve just that, but the full-time M3F festival staff works year-round. Blanchard and her team work to secure vendors and artists, but the team also vets charities and distributes funds.
