Q&A: Columbus Merch Maven Jennifer Chastain Brings Art Galleries to Music Festivals

Jennifer Chastain describes her job as “booth queen extraordinaire.” Over the years, she’s worked for a variety of vendors at Rock on the Range, Sonic Temple, Summerfest, Bonnaroo and Riot Fest, among others. Today, she manages a traveling gallery at music festivals for artists Sean Dietrich and Kai Martin. And before his death in June, she served as Columbus artist Brian Ewing’s assistant. 

How did you get into festival work? I moved here in 2007. I was doing nanny jobs, but I fell in love with Columbus because of the sense of community in the art and music scene. I got into volunteering at every event, every festival there was. I helped supervise ComFest’s beer [tent] for a number of years. From that, I became friends with What The Rock?! They were a small business, very kitsch. If you needed a Wu-Tang shower curtain or a Led Zeppelin coffee mug and also a Slayer onesie for your kid, that was the store to go to. They would pack up their store and put it into a 10-by-10, pop-up tent at festivals. Then, they started to work larger music festivals, and they wound up needing more help because these festivals are at least 120,000 people in attendance. And so it'd be like, “Hey, are you available to help do this festival?” And from that I wound up meeting other vendors and eventually the artists that I do work with now. 

What's been your favorite festival performance? There was a time at Welcome to Rockville in Jacksonville, Florida, where Billy Idol was playing, and Foo Fighters were also playing. I got to enjoy Billy Idol's set, and that was so much fun. Foo Fighters were playing, and then, all of a sudden, Billy Idol comes onstage and does a song with them. And that's something that only happens at a festival. But not only that, John Travolta was randomly there, like, side stage watching Foo Fighters, and so Dave Grohl called him out. [So now] John Travolta is onstage, and they're playing some “Grease” song. It's like, “Where am I? Oh, I'm at a festival. This is something that would only happen there.” 

What’s kept you in Columbus? Columbus is two degrees of separation of cool people. In Columbus, [there’s a lot of] art and music. And not only is everyone really talented, but they're really honest that if they can't do it, they know someone who can, or they're going to suggest, “You would really like this band,” or “You would really like so-and-so's art.”  

What's the best part of your job? The travel, connecting with people. I have met some of my favorite people in my current lifetime through my job. That's definitely my favorite part, other than the music benefits where I get to go into work and maybe catch a sound check. I got to catch Bikini Kill's sound check a few years ago. Or like Gwar coming up to the booth next to us all in character. Where else are you gonna get that? 

To learn about the artists Chastain works with, visit seandietrichart.com and kaimartinart.com. 

This story is from the October 2023 issue of Columbus Monthly.