This weekend, Columbia will once again host thousands of concert-goers from Monroe County and beyond as Songs4Soldiers returns for its 11th year of aiding combat veterans.

The event will once again take place in Bolm-Schuhkraft Park, with a number of bands performing throughout the weekend.

On Friday, gates open at 5:30 p.m., with Chris Janson, The Joe Stamm Band, The Mighty Pines and Ian Ferguson performing through the evening.

Saturday afternoon, gates open at 2:30 p.m. for performances by Gin Blossoms, Sean Canan’s Voodoo Players, Joe Dirt & the Dirty Boys Band, Dazed N Confused STL, The RTtroNerds and Fuse from Fox Theatre Teen Talent.

Fresh Burn keeps the music going on the event’s side stage both days.

All proceeds for S4S go toward assisting combat veterans. Per the event’s website, last year’s concert raised more than $290,000 for the cause, with $1.3 million being spent on combat veterans since S4S first began.

S4S founder Dustin Row once again spoke with the Republic-Times to discuss the event, how big it’s gotten over the years and what the concert is really all about.

As previously reported, the beginnings of S4S can be traced back to Row and his former band Where’s Charlie performing at a small charity event hosted at Tiny’s Pub & Grill in Columbia – though the event later grew large enough to move to the parking lot outside of Schnucks.

With Row himself being a combat veteran, S4S was officially founded in 2013, finding a home at the central Columbia park in the years that followed.

As Row has said, the organization set to start a modest goal. The four in S4S originally denoted how many veterans the group planned on assisting with the concert’s annual proceeds, though success over the years has ballooned the donation total enough that aid can be spread out a bit more freely.

Despite the event’s tremendous growth in the past 11 years, Row said it still largely feels the same is it did when it began.

“Humble” was the word he emphasized in describing S4S. Even as the community has rallied around the concert more and more each year, the event is still at its core just a local concert put on for a good cause.

“My favorite thing about it now as it was then in 2013 when we were getting started, we’re still an all-volunteer organization,” Row said. “That didn’t change. We’re still local. We’re still in Columbia, and we’ll never leave.”

Row also offered some perspective on how the concert gets organized each year, making clear that it’s hardly something that just comes together at the end of each summer.

The top of the year is generally focused on bringing on sponsors for the coming concert, with the event announcement coming in April or May.

Row and his S4S helpers push to get tickets sold through the summer, though he noted the bulk of ticket sales happen in the month – or even just the week – before the event.

This all culminates in the actual week of the show, with the stage set up and the gates finally opening.

The actual charity work of working with veterans who reach out for help runs all year.

Preparing for next year, Row said he tends to have the 2025 show booked by Thanksgiving.

With a number of big names brought on to perform in more recent years, he noted the difficulty he had getting those artists the first year.

Most agencies overseeing talent that performs on the national level can be wary when it comes to new venues offering gigs, as payments often fall through as amateur hosts run into problems.

With Row operating an event production company over the past few years, he’s been able to build a strong rapport with these agencies as he reaches out to book multiple events each year.

As the agencies have grown warmer to him and S4S, so too have the artists.

He noted that bigger names he’s brought on have been quite happy to perform, even as they might not have high expectations in the weeks leading up to a performance in a more rural community.

“Artists a lot of times aren’t familiar with us until a couple weeks out,” Row said. “Usually, once they’re on-site, then they get the vibe. They see it.”

He recalled positive interactions with LOCASH, who remembered their S4S experience very fondly.

On the overall purpose of S4S, Row spoke about how the charity has helped numerous combat veterans over the years.

A graphic on the S4S website highlights some of the items the group has helped veterans with. Notable in this graphic is that most of the items are quite fundamental, including rent and mortgage payments, utility and medical bills and other necessities.

Row explained that many combat veterans receive around $4,000 per month, which seems like a fairly reasonable amount but doesn’t account for inevitable roadblocks these veterans can run into.

“That sounds like a lot of money, and not long ago it used to be a lot of money,” Row said. “What that amount of money does, what I run into the most, what we see the most, is that amount of money definitely pays veterans’ monthly bills, but that amount of money doesn’t leave a lot to be saved from month to month to month… If something major happens, you don’t have that.”

Should veterans be left desperate to pay for their electricity or a new air conditioning system, S4S can step in to help.

“The sense of lifting the weight off their chest,” Row said. “To be able to do that, to be able to have the power to do that, I wish every human being could feel.”

While Row plays a major role in operating S4S throughout the year, the event and the charity’s operations couldn’t come together without the help of many volunteers.

One long-time volunteer is Katie Hart, who among other things works with the charity’s case management, working with veterans to make sure needs are met.

Hart spoke about how satisfying it is to see exactly how the charity’s donations get put to use each year, also echoing Row’s sentiments about being able to help veterans make ends meet.

“There are so many people that give back to our country, but that commitment goes far beyond the years of service that they give. Between them and their family, they give so much, and the fact that they may need something, it’s just amazing that we have that ability to fill in those gaps where the VA may not have the resources to do so,” Hart said.

She further described how eye-opening it’s been to see how many veterans run into trouble as they push to meet their basic needs.

Hart also spoke to the uniqueness of S4S, as the charity doesn’t have any particular niche beyond exclusively focusing on combat veterans. The organization is able and willing to help veterans with any area they might need assistance.

Bud Amos is another longtime volunteer with S4S, currently overseeing the event’s food vendors each year.

Amos spoke about how the community has truly come together in support of S4S over the years, with a great sense of pride coming from the event. He noted how happy he is seeing S4S T-shirts any time he’s out in public.

Like Row, he also felt great pride for the organization itself. Where Row described S4S as “humble,” Amos went with “pure.”

“It sounds cliche, but it’s pure,” Amos said. “None of us are paid or anything like that. We’re all strictly volunteers. When you say that 100 percent of the proceeds from the concert goes to the veterans, it does.”

For more information or to purchase tickets to this year’s concerts, visit online at songs4soldiersstl.org.