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Hundreds of Fans Came to Hear Music and Stayed for the Downpour
For the eighth year in a row, Oliver Hazard Day has brought hundreds of music fans to the streets of Waterville and this year, the rain arrived too.
On August 16, from 4:30 to 11 pm, on N 3rd St., the music festival was hosted by the Waterville-based band Oliver Hazard featured musicians from around the world, including Olive Klug, Briscoe and Tors.
“This is our eighth annual event. We couldn’t do it without all of you. It means so much to us that you’re here, even with a really horrible-looking weather report,” said Mike Belazis, founding member of Oliver Hazard.
Apart from the live music, there was a DJ spinning vinyls, a live mural painting, food trucks, shops, beer and a place for community.
“We shut down downtown Waterville, which the town is super cool to allow us to do. It’s just this really cool small-town event where you get to see bands with an international footprint who have fans all over the world,” Belazis said.
While the bands have an international footprint, most other aspects of the festival come locally.
The muralist, DJ and band Oliver Hazard are all from the Toledo area. Outside of what was on the poster, Keep Toledo/Lucas County Beautiful donated recycling bins, Buffalo Rock Brewing brewed a special beer just for the festival, all drink sales went to The Arts Commission, Jupmode helped design the merch and was doing live bandana printing and Stumbled Upon Vintage hosted a pop-up within the festival. Native to Cleveland, Ohio, Wild Northland was selling handmade pendants, with some designs specifically made for the music festival.
Live mural painting
Toledo native muralist Tayler Meinen spent the night painting a mural to commemorate the annual festival.
“One of [Oliver Hazard’s] most popular songs is ‘Dandelion’ and I’m a sucker for contrast colors, so I’m going to do the main part of the mural blue and then I’m going to throw some yellow in there for the dandelions,” Meinen said. “I honestly don’t even have a design; I’m just kind of winging it.”
The result included an Oliver Hazard Day pendant, two metal patio chairs, flowers growing up the canvas and a tiny lamp in honor of Oliver Hazard’s Tiny Lamp Fan Club.
In spirit with the message behind Oliver Hazard Day, Meinen says to “support local art.”
Live vinyl spinning
From 4:30 until 6 pm and in between all the acts, local DJ Jon Zenz was spinning vinyls to get people ready for the live music.
“This year I brought a lot of 70s, R&B, and disco. Even though the [live] music is downtempo, this is just to keep people up in between acts,” Zenz said.
This was not the first year Zenz came to spin vinyls or even hop on stage himself.
“I was shocked the first time they asked me [to DJ], but it’s super fun. My band played the very first one and then this is my fourth year DJing,” Zenz said.
Olive Klug
“This next act is unbelievable, as are all the acts. This person we met in the Pacific Northwest where we played a couple shows together a few years ago and we were just blown away by the songwriting and the stories and the voice. Olive Klug is one of my favorite songwriters and I honestly believe one of the voices of our generation,” Belazis said when welcoming Olive Klug to the stage.
Olive Klug, the first act of the night, drove across the United States, from Portland, Oregon, to Waterville for the special night.
“In 2022, I was with a record label that I am no longer with, but they were like, ‘there’s this band called Oliver Hazard and they want to do a song with you…’ So we recorded a version of ‘Fly Right,’ which is one of their songs together,” Klug said. “Then back in 2024, they asked me to open for them on tour and I did and that was super fun. They’re just really great, supportive people and I was super excited when they asked me to play this year because I’ve known about this festival for a while.”
The only solo act of the night first started posting their folk music online, where they developed a following.
“I began writing songs in college. I graduated in 2019, then the pandemic hit and then I lost my job. I started posting on the Internet and then the Internet liked my music enough for me to keep going,” Klug said.
With two albums out and a plethora of singles, all of Klug’s music and social media accounts can be found at oliveklug.com. Stay updated with Klug, as there may be a festival of their own in the future.
“I just think it’s really cool that the Oliver Hazard guys put on this festival every year and it’s honestly inspiring. I’ve always wanted to plan my own music festivals, so I feel like I’m learning a lot,” Klug said.
Briscoe
“Without further ado, we have a really special act. We met them for about 30 seconds at a Newport Folk Festival. Ever since then, we kept in touch. They are two Texas boys with amazing songwriting and amazing harmonies. They’re one of our favorite bands to listen to while we tour. Ladies and gentlemen, Briscoe,” Belazis said when welcoming Briscoe to the stage.
Philip Lupton and Truett Heintzelman are the folk-rock duo called Briscoe from just outside Austin, Texas.
“We love all the Hazard guys. We met them about two years ago and stayed in touch through social media. The other artists on this roster are just incredible, so it’s been really fun,” said Heintzelman.
The duo first met at a summer camp back when they were in middle school.
“We were from different cities, but we met at the summer camp and we were both learning to play guitar and to sing and harmonize and stuff. We would return to this camp every year until we got to college,” Lupton said. “We ended up at the University of Texas and that’s when we really got the band going.”
While they refer to their genre as ‘folk-rock,’ the duo pulls out a plethora of instruments when performing, giving them a unique and memorable sound.
“We bounce around a little bit, but we found the best label to be folk rock,” Heintzelman said. “But we’ll play the saxophone and the electric guitar, rock out a little bit. Definitely some country influence as well, being in Texas.”
With two albums and a few EPs and singles, the most recent from this July, the duo will be back in Ohio, so if you missed Oliver Hazard Day, you have another chance to hear them live.
“We’ll be in Columbus on September 20th at Skully’s Music-Diner,” Heintzelman said.
For all things Briscoe, including tickets to the Columbus show, head to briscoetheband.com.
“We’re touring a bunch this fall, so we’ll be in Columbus, but all over the United States. So if you can’t come to Columbus, take a little vacation and come see us somewhere else,” Lupton said.
Tors
“Our next act is probably the most foreign of all acts that we’ve ever had in Waterville. It is our first national act. It’s a band from a very small town, very similar to this, in the middle of England, a town called Devon. I think they took this gig because they sympathized with our small-town mentality. So without further ado, Tors,” Belazis said when welcoming Tors to the stage.
Tors, a band composed of three brothers, had 2/3 of the trio in Waterville: Theo and Matt Weedon.
“We’ve been friends with [Oliver Hazard] for a long time. So when they reached out and said ‘we’d love for you to come and play,’ it worked really well that we were in America making our record. It’s one of our favorite festivals we’ve played at in America,” said Matt.
The brothers first found inspiration for their ‘storytelling indie music’ from their grandfather.
“Our granddad was a somewhat famous guitarist in England in the 1950s and 60s. He actually wrote the first-ever teach-yourself-guitar book, which was the book the Beatles learned from,” Theo said. “When we were younger, we would always go to granddad’s house and we’d obsess over his guitars and he’d pull them off the wall and teach us bits and bob. So I think subconsciously it probably seeped into us and it gave us this love of music.”
After releasing several EPs, the band is now spending time in Nashville, Tennessee, recording their debut album.
To stay updated with Tors as the release of their album comes to fruition, go to tors.band.
“This is my first impression of Ohio and I like it a lot. What makes a place special is the people. The people here are sensational. Everyone we’ve met is so nice, so we’re big fans,” Matt said.
Oliver Hazard
The band putting the entire festival together was the last to hit the stage. Their set came right when the rain came, but instead of leaving, people got out of their seats and headed to the stage.
“There is a possibility during this next set that it will rain on you, but that is okay. I think we should all just act like nothing’s happening,” Belazis said.
After the release of their EP Waterville, Oliver Hazard concluded their summer tour in Waterville at Oliver Hazard Day, where they played songs from this EP for the first time in the hometown it was named after.
“It was always the goal to do what we’re doing, but I didn’t think it would actually happen. There comes a time where you think about becoming a professional musician and you realize how hard that goal is,” Belazis said. “Then in 2018, when I met the band and we started playing together, that’s when I had a feeling that this was a really lucky moment to have met other artists that I perform well with and sing well with and write songs well together and it made it clearer that this actually could be a career.”
For more information on Oliver Hazard and for next year’s Oliver Hazard Day, go to olihazard.com.
