Chill vibes emanated from The Buck Mansion in Vacaville Saturday, part of Polipalooza, a free music festival presented by Gabe and Kristie Griess to help motivate young people to get out and vote.
“It was such a cool event that mixed music and politics to get out the vote,” said local artist Jamie Pope, who designed the posters for the event. “I hope this is annual.”
Local and San Francisco-based musicians such as Steve Meckfessel, Nina Grae, Used Blues Brothers, Taryn Cross and NBC’s The Voice competitor Lyndsey Elm came out to perform in an intimate setting in the historical Buck Mansion’s backyard.
“Good food, good music, good people. All around good time,” Event Sponsor Tom McGuire of McGuire Capital Group Reality said.
UC Davis student and slam poet Neelam Kumar performed her original work, tailoring her performance to the event. She spoke about being a first-generation American and fourth in her family to graduate from college.
“But no one told me that the sweetness I was working toward was actually like picking fruit from a poisonous tree,” she told the crowd, referring to her $25,000 0f student debt and the price of a diploma.
She said Gabe’s advocating for relieving students of college debt inspired her to volunteer for the campaign and she urged the crowd to vote for him when election time comes.
Gabe stepped up the mic as the event closed and reminded everyone that the event’s purpose was to motivate people to get out and vote, no matter their voting preferences.
“Voting is an important right we have as Americans and turnout is depressingly low,” he said. “Our goal with this event was to make the political process fun and exciting. I am here to improve the quality of life for Californians and getting out the vote will help make that a reality.”
