My Catawba County
Hum, Hum, Hummin' Along
What do you do when you and your friends want to see more live music in your town? You get together and create “the hum,” an outdoor music venue designed to serve not only as a place for live music performances, but also as a community gathering spot and cultural hub. To learn more about “the hum,” we talked with co-founder Andrew Moose. [Editor’s note: Staying true to brand, Andrew wrote about “the hum” in all lowercase – but for ease of reading, we’re presenting it here as The Hum.]
What is The Hum?
The Hum is a 1,000 capacity general admission outdoor amphitheater located in the heart of Hickory, NC, and a 5-minute downhill walk from the center of Union Square downtown. The Hum is one of a kind to our area as we are providing our community a unique family friendly event space that hosts music and other community events May - October.
Who are the folks behind The Hum, and what led you to create it?
The Hum music venue was brought to life from a vision of music-, business- and community-minded people to provide Hickory, NC, and surrounding areas an outdoor music and event space unlike any other in our community.
In April of 2020, after initial conversations, Andrew Moose, Gavin Mitchell, Barrett Mitchell and Jim Mitchell curated small focus groups to gain key information from friends and neighbors to find out specific interests by asking simple but key questions, including, “What do you want to see in a music venue here in Hickory?” Their replies were a resounding “a different vibe than what we currently have," “an outside venue,” “a space that Hickory can be proud of” and most importantly, “family friendly.” The Hum listened and in April 2021, the hum HKY LLC was officially created and those ideas were launched into action.
In May 2021, The Hum HKY met with key community members, including City of Hickory and Hickory Police Department, to receive input and go-ahead. Their unwavering support has been key to our initial success. In October 2021, The Hum held its soft opening with over 300 patrons and affirmed that the Hickory area would support an outdoor amphitheater venue. In our inaugural season in 2022, The Hum curated 20 unique shows that expanded musical genres and brought all walks of life together.
The Hum strives to be a space that is an exciting destination, a gathering place for friends, and a community point of pride for both citizens and visitors to Hickory. Providing our community with a one-of-a-kind family friendly outdoor amphitheater that will play a part in improving our culture as a city is also a driving force for us. Having an outdoor amphitheater like The Hum in Hickory will serve as a cultural hub for our citizens as well as provide a destination for others outside our community. Our goal is to not only to bring people to Hickory, but to also keep Hickory people in Hickory.
Where is The Hum?
The Hum is located at 227 2nd Ave SW in the heart of Hickory, NC. We are situated less than a 5-minute downhill walk from the center of Union Square downtown and next door to the Hickory Police Department.
What can people expect to experience at a Hum event?
A family friendly festival type atmosphere with regional music acts/community-centered events, food trucks, and beverages of all types for all ages. We are excited to once again provide space for food truck vendors from our local area to serve The Hum patrons at each event. Each food truck vendor was provided space at The Hum to vend free of charge to give our patrons great food options.
What’s coming up at The Hum in 2023?
The Hum has 14 events scheduled in 2023. We are excited to bring some crowd favorites from last season as well bring music/events that will be new to Hickory.
How do you select the musical acts?
Our music acts are carefully selected each year to reflect the musical palette of our area. Our team are huge supporters and proponents of regional/local musicians, and our programming reflects that. All of the bands featured at The Hum are based in the Southeast United States with a large portion based in NC.
Is there anything else you’d like to add about The Hum?
Our staff is one-of-a-kind, and we couldn’t do it without them. Bringing in staff who were uniquely entrenched in our community also gave our patrons more of an at home feeling. One particular point of pride is that The Hum was able to partner with Friends of Hickory and “The Den” to provide unique job opportunities to newly sober individuals who are in the process of completing The Den curriculum, which includes integrating back into our community through gainful employment. As expected, The Den employees proved to be invaluable members of our team and will be on staff again this year.
In the past 3 years, The Hum has grown from a fleeting idea between old friends to the acknowledgement of a cultural need in our community to a fully operational 1000-seat capacity outdoor concert venue. Two years ago, our location was an underserved area in Southwest Hickory that was in disrepair, and now it is an uplifted vibrant event space. The Hum’s first season saw over 5,000 patrons enter our gates, food trucks completely selling out of food at almost every event, kids playing outside being immersed in music, and most importantly, a new music scene in our community where patrons of all ages and races have the opportunity to get together for the common good of music. Our goals for the next few years are lofty and require an immense community buy-in. Our plan is to stay our course with the help of key partners to continue to make The Hum Hickory’s best place for live music.
