Treefort Music Festival Brings Road Closures to Downtown Boise

With more than 20,000 "fort goers" expected to show up for the five day music festival, Downtown Boise is bracing for an increase in traffic this weekend.

If you rely on the connector to get you to and from Downtown Boise during the work week, you've no doubt seen the countdown to Treefort sign outside sitting outside Pre-Funk for the past two weeks. The countdown hit zero on Wednesday with Storyfort hosting the first "fort" activities at noon.

To accommodate the main stage at 12th & Grove, road closures go into affect Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. and will remain in place until 6 a.m. on Monday, March 25.  According to ACHD's current list of projects, those closures are located in the following locations:

• 12th Street from Front to Main
• Grove Street from 14th St to 11th St

More than 440 bands are expected to perform at more than 20 venues in the downtown area.  In addition to live music there's also Comedyfort, Filmfort, Foodfort, Hackfort, Kidfort, Skatefort, Storyfort, Yogafort and the extremely popular Alefort.

I'll be honest, I'm not trendy to recognize 99% of the music acts coming to Treefort.  With the exception of local favorites The Rocci Johnson Band of Humpin' Hannah's fame, Maddie Zahm who appeared on the 2018 rebirth of American Idol and Red Light Challenge (one of the guy's girlfriends is a proud member of the Townsquare Media Boise promo team) there's only one name that catches my eye.

Liz Phair. She had a minor hit called "Why Can't I?" in 2003 that topped out at #32 on the Billboard Top 100. It found it's way into a handful of popular TV shows and movies of the era including: The O.C., Laguna Beach, Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! and 13 Going on 30. If you could use some early 2000s nostalgia, Phair is scheduled to perform on the main stage Friday from 8:30-10 p.m.