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HazelFest 2017 to celebrate sobriety with Lizzo, Har Mar Superstar

The fifth annual party at Hazelden Betty Ford Center takes place Aug. 5 and will also feature Sonny Knight & the Lakers and Communist Daughter.

By Chris Riemenschneider

April 13, 2017 at 6:36PM

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Minneapolis hip-hop/R&B star Lizzo touted a healing message at her buzzed-about South by Southwest appearances last month in Texas and will do the same at HazelFest. / Tony Nelson for Star Tribune (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

The best summer music fest for celebrating redemption and/or avoiding drunk people, the Hazelden Betty Ford Center's fifth annual HazelFest lineup was announced Thursday with a truly celebratory all-Minnesota lineup led by feel-good hip-hop powerhouse Lizzo and the R&B/pop guru who took her on tour as a newbie in 2013, Har Mar Superstar.

The old cohorts will be joined by throwback soul men Sonny Knight & the Lakers and HazelFest mainstays Communist Daughter, whose frontman Johnny Solomon is a proud success story from the center's treatment care. As always, the event will offer sobriety programs and activities for kids in a booze-free environment on the nationally renowned center's scenic grounds in Center City. The $15 tickets are available at HazelFest.org (kids 12 and under are free).

about the writer

Chris Riemenschneider

Critic / Reporter

Chris Riemenschneider has been covering the Twin Cities music scene since 2001, long enough for Prince to shout him out during "Play That Funky Music (White Boy)." The St. Paul native authored the book "First Avenue: Minnesota's Mainroom" and previously worked as a music critic at the Austin American-Statesman in Texas.