On June 1st and 2nd, Purple Hatter’s Ball will return once again to the Spirit of Suwannee Park in Live Oak, Florida, for the eleventh straight year benefitting the Rachel Morningstar Foundation. After announcing the festival’s lineup in March, fans have eagerly been awaiting this latest edition of the festival, which features sets by Lettuce, Spafford, Breaking Biscuits, Toubab Krewe, The Heavy Pets, Roosevelt Collier Trio, Southern Avenue, and more.
Today, Purple Hatter’s Ball has announced its daily schedule, allowing attendees to start plotting their weekend adventures. On Friday, June 1st, the festival will open with a performance from Hivemind, followed by sets from Southern Avenue, Toubab Krewe, and The Heavy Pets. To close out the festivities on night one, the up-and-coming Arizona jammers of Spafford will close out the Amphitheatre Stage. On Saturday, the festivities kick off at Spirit of Suwannee Park’s Beach Stage, with performances by Vlad The Inhaler, Trial By Stone, Catfish Alliance, and MZG. As the day wears on, the festival will switch gears, inviting attendees over to the Amphitheatre Stage for an opening set by Dubconscious, a long-running staple of the festival in addition to Trial By Stone and MZG.
Given that the festival is held in loving memory of Rachel Morningstar Hoffman—a Florida State University student and beloved member of the music community who was brutally murdered in 2008 while acting as a police informant during a woefully inept drug sting—during Dubconscious’ set (her once favorite band), the festival will host its annual ceremonial release of butterflies in Rachel’s honor, which is hosted by Rachel’s mother turned activist, Margie Weiss. As festival Paul Levine told Live For Live Music in a recent interview about the butterfly ceremony,
It’s one of the most looked-forward-to moments of the weekend. It’s deeply cathartic and healing on top of being sad, but something Margie brought to the PHB early on—she feels Rachel’s spirit is embodied in a monarch butterfly. She purchases twenty-three butterflies for the years Rachel was on Earth, and one for the spirit of who she is now. We share those butterflies. Margie hands out one to a friend or audience member or whatever, and after, we talk about Rachel and tell her story. We release butterflies in the air and have a moment and thought about Rachel. It’s really incredible.
From there, following the beautiful memorial for a spirit lost too soon, Purple Hatter’s Ball will close out with performances from Roosevelt Collier Band, Breaking Biscuits, and Lettuce.
You can check out the full weekend schedule for Purple Hatter’s Ball below. Tickets for the two-day music and camping festival are on-sale now, and can be purchased on the event’s website here.
