FAIRMONT– The first Bacontown Throwdown is scheduled to open on Friday. The event is a two night battle of the bands hosted by The Fairmont Opera House.

Opera House director Blake Potthoff said the impetus for the event was a desire to showcase more local artists and diversify the Opera House’s performances. Outside of community theater and some educational projects, most of the Opera House’s performers come from outside of Minnesota.

“The facility and the organization wouldn’t be around if it there weren’t local people … we need to do a better job of focusing on that and providing that type of local entertainment to our community,” said Potthoff.

Altogether the event will feature six performances from five different musical groups. All of the performers come from Minnesota.

“For me this is step one; finding local bands and entertainers to perform here and incentivizing it,” said Potthoff.

The first night will feature the three musical groups participating in the battle of the bands, two of which are based in the Martin County area.

The Limit is a Fairmont-based rock and roll band whose performances blend a mix of 90s alternative rock, indie rock and hair metal. The band was formed in 2020 as a project band, but since then they’ve released their first E.P. and began to play live shows. Blue Dirt Road was formed by three middle school students from Fairmont and Blue Earth earlier this year; they perform a mixture of county and rock and roll. The final contestant is Perfectly Still. The group is based out of the Fargo-Moorhead area and performs a blend of hard rock, pop punk and metalcore.

The bands will be judged by a four person panel consisting of Lakes FM DJ Jen Black, sound producer Paul Stibble, Martin County Pork Producers mascot Marty the Pig and Potthoff.

The winning band will perform at the Opera House’s New Year’s Eve party and will record a live album at the Opera House. The band that receives the most votes on the Opera House’s website will receive a people’s choice award.

The winning band will also perform on the second night alongside FuZZrd and A Rising Force. FuZZrd is a Minneapolis-based heavy rock band which describes themselves as a combination of Black Sabbath, Motorhead, Bon Jovi and Def Leppard. A Rising Force is another Minnesota-based original hard rock band which released their debut CD ‘Undertow’ in 2020.

The event has been funded by The Fairmont Opera House and sponsored by Martin County Pork Producers. On the first night Martin County Pork Producers will be selling pork chops and the Opera House’s normal concessions will be open on both nights

If this event proves to be a success The Fairmont Opera House plans to bring it back next year. The Opera House is also on the lookout for suggestions regarding future events and performances.

“If there’s something that you like or don’t like, you want to see and haven’t seen, I want to know,” said Potthoff.

Tickets to the Bacontown Throwdown are available both online and at the door.