New York, NY – sweetgreen, the much-loved organic farm-to-table salad shops, is thrilled to announce the date for the fifth annual 2014 sweetlife music + food festival: Saturday, May 10 at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD. Lineup and ticket sales information will be confirmed by @sweetgreen on Instagram. A video teaser for the festival is available HERE for posting.
Created by sweetgreen cofounders Nicolas Jammet, Jonathan Neman and Nathaniel Ru, the Festival is now in its fifth year and attracts a curated selection of cutting edge artists and 20,000 attendees – not to mention outstanding food from top chefs, food trucks, local purveyors and farmers. An annual celebration of flavorful music and delicious and wholesome food, the event embraces good living, along with health and well-being, community and sustainability, and leaves a gentle footprint as a carbon-neutral event – a party with a purpose.
Last year’s music line up included Phoenix, Passion Pit, Kendrick Lamar, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Gary Clark Jr., and Solange, among other top performers. Additional artists at previous festivals included Fun, HAIM, Avicii, The Strokes, Girl Talk, Lupe Fiasco, The Shins, Kid Cudi, A$AP Rocky, and Haerts. Food came from top local restaurants and purveyors including sweetgreen, Rogue 24, Woodberry Kitchen, Toki Underground, Pepe by Jose Andrés, Takorean, The Big Cheese, and Kushi Moto by Kushi Izakaya & Sushi, DGS Delicatessen and Luke’s Lobster. Local farmers served just picked fruits and vegetables, and local wine and craft beer was poured from DC Brau, Flying Dog, Mountain State Brewing Co., Peak Organic Brewery, Chocolate City Brewery and Boordy Wines.
The 2013 Festival received rave reviews from the media and artists alike: “It really was the sweet life,” hailed USA Today, which also quoted Phoenix’s Laurent Brancowitz, “You can tell that the festival is organized by people who want to do something great ant just sell gallons of expensive beer. We see a lot of festivals where people are treated like cattle, and here there’s a respect for human beings.”The Washington Post called it a “feel-good festival” that is “the region’s unofficial portal into the summer concert season,” while Billboard called the festival “impressive.” Consequence of Sound said it was “sweet indeed,” and the Baltimore City Paper claimed, “sweetlife’s organizers deserve praise for how accurately the festival’s performers’ general concern with doing pop the ‘right way’ reflected sweetgreen’s own attempts to correct the traditional model of the fast food restaurant-and of the music festival for that matter.”
Much more than a festival, sweetlife reflects a way of approaching life where passion and purpose intersect – the idea that experiences can be both fun and meaningful, hip and wholesome; that food can be both healthy and delicious, high-quality and affordable; and that business practices can combine style and substance while being mutually beneficial to the company and community they serve.
A carbon neutral event, the festival embraces sustainable business practices: solar panels were installed on the roof of the stage to offset energy used; compostable utensils, cups and napkins were offered; tri-waste composting stations were created to minimize the amount of trash; and festivalgoers were encouraged to collect recyclables and trade them in for custom sunglasses, art posters, skateboard, and other swag.
Since the very first sweetgreen opened in Georgetown in 2007, music has always been a part of sweetgreen’s culture. Not only are the stores an oasis of delicious and healthy food, but also places where guests can hear the latest and greatest tracks. The idea for sweetlife was born as a small, local event. In 2010, with the opening of their second location, the three Georgetown University grads invited some of their favorite bands to perform in a parking lot behind sweetgreen’s Dupont store. What began as a 500-person gathering has blossomed into one of the region’s largest and most anticipated music festivals, a two-stage event with 20,000 attendees in one of the most famous amphitheatres in the country.
About sweetgreen:
Founded in 2007 by Georgetown University graduates Nicolas Jammet, Jonathan Neman and Nathaniel Ru, sweetgreen has become a favorite not only for its delicious and healthy food, but also for its commitment to local farmers, the community, sustainability, and outstanding company culture. They opened their first location, a 560-square foot space in Georgetown, in August 2007 – just three months out of college. The shop quickly grew a cult-like following and, over the next six years, the threesome went on to open 21 additional locations throughout Washington, D.C., Virginia, Maryland, Philadelphia, Boston and New York City. The company also founded sweetlife, an annual food and music festival that attracts a curated selection of cutting edge artists and 20,000 attendees – not to mention outstanding food from top chefs, food trucks, local purveyors and farmers. Over the years, sweetgreen has received numerous accolades from the press including The Washington Post, USA Today, Food & Wine, Forbes, Bloomberg, Washingtonian, CBS and NBC, among others, and the founders were voted Food & Wine’s “40 Big Thinkers Under 40,” Forbes’ “30 Under 30” and Refinery29’s “30 Under 30.”
