Heatwave To Kick Off Inaugural Benefit At Southern Star

CONROE, TX — A combination of hip-hop, water balloons, good food and craft beer will help further childhood cancer research right here in Conroe.

That’s the formula for Heatwave 2021, a hip-hop music festival that will be held at Southern Star Brewing Co. on Saturday with the proceeds from the event going to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.

The headliners for the event are Lord A and Dizzy Mour, and they’re part of a lineup of 15 artists that will be spread out on three stages.

The festival kicks off at noon, and admission at the door is $20. Presale general admission and VIP tickets are being sold online for $15 and $40, respectively. VIP tickets grant VIP only access to the front of the stage along with tent access with tables and chairs and dedicated beer runners.

Taylor Munnerlyn, the host of Heatwave and co-host of the Outlaw Dave Show on 950 AM, said Heatwave 2021 is an inaugural event that will change genres and charities each year to help highlight different artists and causes. The idea is to have a Warped Tour vibe, Munnerlyn added.

The two-hour radio show will broadcast live from the event Saturday with Outlaw Dave doing live spots with sponsors and artists.

With the Outlaw Dave Show being a rock ‘n’ roll talk show, and rock and country events having a strong presence in Houston, Munnerlyn wanted to change the genre up for the first edition of Heatwave.

“I have a lot of friends in the hip-hop scene as well, including Dizzy Mour, so I figured why not do that?” Munnerlyn said.

Here is the full list of musical acts performing at the festival:

• Lord A
• Dizzy Mour
• Jermsego
• Khody Blake
• Vision
• Janelle Walker
• Tahir2x
• John Clemintine
• De’Ante Roberts
• Matty Why
• Rogue One
• Winston Cook
• Jermantho
• JonTheBeat
• The Gee Boys

The catalyst for the choice of St. Jude’s Research Hospital as the beneficiary of the inaugural Heatwave was the experiences of one of the artists at the festival, Vision, who has survived four bouts with cancer since he was a kid. Vision also will be speaking at the event, Munnerlyn said.

“St. Jude’s has a special place in his heart, so that’s why we went ahead and chose them,” Munnerlyn said. “They were a huge part in saving his life, and we wanted to honor that. They do a lot of good.”

After expenses are paid to put on the festival, all the money generated from Heatwave will be donated to St. Jude’s.

In addition to the price of admission, there are plenty of ways to help raise money for St. Jude’s at the festival. Most of them involve water features, a good thing since it’s expected to be hot with no precipitation on Saturday.

There will be a giant slip ‘n’ slide, an idea Munnerlyn credited to the people at Southern Star Brewery, as well as several other water items available for purchase.

Buckets of water balloons will be sold, and water guns will be available to rent. Munnerlyn also said there will be blow-up pool packages available. For $50, festival goers can rent a two-person pool, which comes with a bag of ice, and a variety pack of Southern Star beer. Pools with more room, fitting four to six people, are available for $100 along with the ice and variety pack. In addition, there will be a pool area near the stage where people can lounge in their pools and watch the performers.

"We want to keep people cool," Munnerlyn said.

There will be a charity raffle with prizes from a wide variety of sponsors where participants buy raffle tickets and distribute them however they want toward specific prizes.

Munnerlyn also said there would be a lineup of different food trucks on site for people to purchase food. Those still game for more fun after the festival can move over to Marshall’s Tavern for the afterparty.

With the launch of the inaugural festival, Munnerlyn believes Heatwave is filling a void as people are starved for events like these coming out of the pandemic, and it’s a perfect opportunity to use that desire to make a difference in the community.

“Especially after COVID, people are looking for a reason to get out and be sociable again,” Munnerlyn said. “What we’ve noticed (at the Outlaw Dave Show) from doing events around Houston, … we’ve had people come up to us about how they appreciate having people put an effort to get back out there again.”