Sustainable Westerville volunteers will be there to usher recycling of about 4,000 beer cups

The high-energy Columbus band LDNL will bring the party to Uptown Untapped Saturday, headlining the live concert at the annual craft brew festival in the historic former Dry Capital of the World.

LDNL will take the stage about 7:30 p.m. and perform through the close of the festival at 10 p.m.

Uptown Untapped 2025 will run from 6-10 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 9, all along the first block of East Main Street. An Early Admission Tasting Hour begins at 5 p.m.

The Untapped festival is the lone annual fundraiser for Uptown Westerville Inc., the nonprofit coalition that works to promote and preserve Westerville’s historic Uptown business district.

Country rocker Billy Brown and his band will kick off the Untapped concert as the warm-up act for LDNL. The country artist with a rock-infused edge will play from 5-7 p.m.

More about the Untapped 2025 concert bands

LDNL

LDNL, which formerly went by Lieutenant Dan’s New Legs, is renowned for its seamless live blend of pop, dance, hip-hop, and Top 40 hits.

LDNL’s dynamic shows feature continuous music sets, engaging dance routines, and powerful vocals. LDNL’s website promises the band has “the most entertaining delivery in the business. The songs are merged so there are no breaks in the set, so it is almost impossible to stop dancing! The band can be seen doing a little Country and Rock & Roll to add to their already amazing selections.”

LDNL features Hollis Jae and Lejuan Townsel on lead vocals, Nick Smith on bass, synth bass and vocals, and Charles Beacham on keyboard and vocals.

Band members are heavily influenced by various genres of music, according to the website. Each member takes a strong interest in blues, funk, jazz, R&B, Rock, Gospel and hip-hop.

LDNL’s live show that has garnered attention and recognition throughout the Midwest. The band has traveled and performed with numerous national acts including Ludacris, Run DMC, Bow Wow, Good Charlotte, Mat Kearney and Plain White T’s.

Billy Brown

Billy Brown’s performances range from heartfelt ballads to energetic, boot-stomping anthems that resonate with a wide audience.

The band features Brown on lead vocals, Carey Hunley on guitar and backing vocals, and Louie Baker on bass and backing vocals.

Brown cites trailblazers like John Denver and The Oak Ridge Boys as musical influencers along his path. Incorporating his love for Southern rock, the Eastern Kentucky native truly breaks genre barriers, blurring the lines and appealing to everyone, according to the band’s website.

Though he was born and raised as a Kentucky local, he has traveled across the world performing in iconic venues from Nashville all the way to Belize. Billy Brown’s music falls in line with contemporary Nashville country, while maintaining an unapologetic, small-town, familiar grit, his website says.

The band has opened for numerous artists, including Lainey Wilson, Jimmie Allen, Clay Walker, Craig Morgan, Chris Janson and several others. He’s quickly gaining recognition in Country music circles, and is best known for his hits, She’s My Girl and Middle of a Country Night. 

Volunteers run the show at Untapped

From greeting visitors at check-in to packing up picnic tables at the close, a huge cadre of volunteers helps Uptown Westerville Inc. stage the annual Uptown Untapped festival.

About 150 volunteers – not including many UWI board members and their families – roll up their sleeves to make the event go. Look for the friendly volunteer guides Saturday, wearing purple shirts for 2025.

Sustainable Westerville – taking out the (recylable) trash

This year, a large contingent of the Untapped volunteers will come from Sustainable Westerville, bringing an added focus on recycling to the event.

Sustainable Westerville Chairwoman Bethany Vosburg-Bluem said about 25 volunteers from the local nonprofit will work shifts at Untapped, up from 20 last year.

The clear plastic cups used to dispense draft beers at Untapped are recyclable, and Sustainable Westerville is bringing 15 special “Cerobins” to encourage festival-goers to sort them to help the process.

The Cerobins are two-sided trash cans – one for landfill waste, and the other for recyclables. Each side holds a 45-gallon trash bag, and Sustainable Westerville volunteers will help patrons separate the waste, keep the bins emptied, and then dump the cups at night’s end from the bags to a dedicated Dumpster for plastic recycling.

About 4,000 plastic cups are expected to be used at Untapped 2025. Vosburg-Bluem said she hopes to capture even more of the plastic this year than in 2024, when an estimated 3,000 cups were separated and processed.

“Recycling is important because it’s a mindset – trying to do right by our planet,” Vosburg-Bluem said. The Sustainable Westerville volunteers at Untapped will be “the troops to remind people those cups are recyclable, just to guide people.”

“You’re just there to help people do the right thing,” she said.