Upcoming young musician Kate Kristine performing an original tune at a concert at Windy Goat Acres in Chelsea. PHOTO BY THE DAVIS GANG

CHELSEA — As Windy Goat Acres just outside of Chelsea continues to gain notoriety and acclaim around the state and the country for its idyllic setting in Iowa’s Bohemian Alps and unique array of events, the facility hosted its first official concert featuring indie folk artists Dan Medeiros and Kate Kristine on the evening of Saturday, June 28.

It was an intimate outdoor concert. The audience sat in lawn chairs, under umbrellas, and in two sets of theater seats set up on either side of the stage, close to the performance. Pizza was baked to perfection, refreshments were ice cold — in stark contrast to the heat — and the music set the mood perfectly.

Dan Medeiros was up first, starting off the night with a Tears For Fears song. Dan played a range of original music and covers, as well as telling a few stories between his songs.

As the sun started to fall behind the trees, Kate Kristine took the stage and started her set with a Tom Petty tune. Kicking off her cowboy boots, Kate got comfortable on the stage and talked about what inspired her next song, which was an original.

While Kate Kristine now calls Arkansas home, her father and manager Matt Smith said the family has deep ties to central Iowa, previously living in the Des Moines area. He added that when Windy Goat Acres Owners Jessica Kettler and Jim Carney expressed a desire to launch live music events in a small, ticketed festival style with a couple of artists, they jumped at the opportunity.

Des Moines musician Dan Medeiros belts out classics and originals under a warm sun at a concert at Windy Goat Acres in Chelsea. PHOTO BY THE DAVIS GANG

“We’ve been friends with them for a very long time. They know Kate is a great singer-songwriter, and then Dan Medeiros is also a longtime friend of ours through the cosplay community,” Smith said, describing Medeiros as a “stellar” Superman. “We’ve known Dan for a very long time. Obviously, he’s very popular in the surrounding area, and their styles are very similar. So it was just kind of a natural fit to get those two onstage together at a venue where they’re both familiar and friendly with the proprietors.”

The American Real Estate Company served as the title sponsor for the show along with Kwik Star and Confluence Brewing. The hope going forward is to create a recurring annual festival style event along with more regular live music on other weekends.

“Next year, what I’d really like to do is I’d like to bring a couple local Tama-Toledo area singer-songwriters out to play out there to bring the community in, too. That’s the goal is to make it a real community event,” Smith said.

Kettler credited Smith with organizing the concert and reflected on its success in an email to the News Chronicle.

“One of our main goals here is to support these artists, and so when we were approached about the idea, we were instantly on board. We have been following Kate Kristine’s rising success with her music career and we wanted to help with the forward movement by hosting her here in Tama Co. We were equally excited to find out Des Moines’ Dan Medeiros would be opening the show,” she said. “Windy Goat Acres sits on 15 acres, it’s family friendly with lots of friendly animals and some hiking trails and meandering paths through the willows, so we find it to be such a perfect fit for a relaxing night for music under the stars. We couldn’t have had a better evening for the concert. We opened up the outdoor garden bar with some cold, refreshing drinks, and we were handing out treats for the animals so people could walk around and feed them while still listening to the show. People were lounging in the concert courtyard with their friends and families and just simply enjoying a summer night in a beautiful place with great music. We slowed down time and basked in these simple summertime pleasures.”

PHOTO BY THE DAVIS GANG

Kettler also shared Smith’s optimism that there will be plenty more musically focused events to come at Windy Goat.

“In the future, we hope to expand upon this idea, expanding it to the whole weekend and inviting more artists. People can opt for the glamping sites and stay for the whole weekend or just come for a day,” she said.

For now, upcoming concerts can be found on the Windy Goat Facebook page. This Saturday, they will host the local band Under Current. Music nights are open to the general public and glamping guests alike.

PHOTO BY THE DAVIS GANG