Moon Crush: Festival rewards frontline workers with free 'music vacation'

The anticipated Moon Crush music festival is giving a group of frontline workers a free "music vacation."

Moon Crush, set to take place April 26 to May 1 in Miramar Beach, Fla., will feature Grace Potter, Jason Isbell, Sheryl Crow and other artists performing outdoors for a socially distanced audience.

Several of those acts teamed with the festival to award free passes and lodging to a nominated frontline worker, and winners were announced this week.

Isbell, NEEDTOBREATHE, The Revivalists and Lake Street Dive selected a nursing home worker in Mississippi, husband-and-wife nurses in Indiana, a sexual assault advocate in Knoxville and an ICU physician's assistant in New York City.

"The stories are amazing," said Moon Crush creator Andy Levine. The idea for the contest came soon after organizers started discussing the fest's potential audience.

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"When we started talking about the people who have missed people because they haven't been able to go out, we were like, 'We think we have it hard. There's another group of people that have it way harder. They're the ones that can't be with their friends, but they're (also) the ones taking care of all these people.'"

Moon Crush comes via technology company Topeka — which has produced "virtual" concert experiences with Isbell and others this year — and concert cruise juggernaut Sixthman.

To attend, you'll need to book a beachside condo, private home or resort through Moon Crush. Concerts will take place on a resort golf course, where attendees who are staying together will watch from their socially distanced "coves" (Contained Open-Air Viewing Environment). Learn more at www.mooncrush.live.