The History of Jamfest / Rock On Heffron
- Cheyenne Antell
- 2 days ago
- 7 min read
“Rock on, Heffron!” was the rallying cry of Jamfest, held annually at the Heffron Tavern, right on the county line between Portage and Waushara counties. Jamfest was a rural music event that attracted local, state, and national acts between 1991 and 2005.
Mark Nowak wasn’t new to planning shows when he started Jamfest, later known as Rock On Heffron. He had traveled with local band Unit One for a decade, helping with lights and production, before he purchased his parents’ tavern in 1989. Frank and Nancy Nowak had owned the tavern for 21 years and when Mark took over his traveling days were severely limited. Since he couldn’t go to the bands, he decided to bring them to Heffron instead.
Heffron is an unincorporated community partially inside the town of Belmont in Portage County. With a population of 623 in the 2000 census, Rock On Heffron brought over 2x the local population for a single Saturday show each year. But it didn’t start that large. When Mark Nowak first bought the tavern it had 12 bar stools and a pool table. He owned the land under the bar and the empty plot next door, but there was no outdoor seating or stage equipment. His first Jamfest at the Tavern was called The First Heffron Valley Derivative Garage Band Jam Fest and featured one band, FMO. FMO stood for Former Members Of and was made up of friends who had all been in different bands over the years. They played in the Tavern garage in spring of 1991 and had such a great time that they did it again later that year, breaking out a fog machine for more dramatic entrances. The performances could have stayed that size, but people in the Belmont area didn’t have many opportunities to see live music and Mark’s shows in the Tavern were popular. He hosted Sardine Can Jams in winter and spring, when up to 75 people would squeeze inside the single tavern room, after shifting the pool table to the side, of course. “That was the only time there was more room behind the bar than in front of it.” remembered Mark. Later these smaller shows would be advertised as Cabin Fever concerts. Mark also tried other shows, bringing a southern blues festival to the Tavern in 1996 and hosting small rock concerts each spring, usually advertised as Early Jam Fest. But it was the annual summer concert that drew the largest crowds, and he loved the music and the community that grew together. While it was originally marketed as Jamfest, the rallying cry of “rock on, Heffron!” was the way many attendees remembered the event. Mark adopted the title and advertisements for Rock On Heffron ran in the Stevens Point Journal and on the radio.
Mark knew local bands and by year three he was up to five local groups playing at the Tavern. There were too many attendees for the Tavern or the garage so it became a backyard party. Drawing in more bands meant starting the show earlier and staying later. He connected with music agents in Milwaukee and Chicago who got him regional acts, and later was able to bring in national acts who were willing to stop at Heffron between their tours of larger cities or who were booked specifically for Rock On Heffron. The event was no longer a backyard party. Mark needed to rent a stage, then a tent, multiple stages and tents, invest in fencing and wristbands, parking lot lights, portable beer coolers and bars, grills and food warmers, outdoor seating, and better stage equipment. National bands used the Tavern as a green room and staging area.
Each year the calls of “Rock on, Heffron!” got louder as attendance grew. Locals helped out, with around 75 volunteers eventually managing admissions, parking, security, food tent, beer tents, stage crew, set up and tear down, and advertising. Advertising was huge, Mark remembers. This was before the internet so newspaper, radio, and poster advertising were the only ways to spread the word, outside of word of mouth. He would print 2000 posters at a time and mail them to friends in Green Bay, Eau Claire, Wausau, Madison, Fond du Lac and Oshkosh, while also pinning hundreds up himself. Mark stopped at every bar, gas station, grocery store, community event board, and restaurant that he could to distribute posters. He ran radio blurbs and later was able to get ads professionally made by band promoters. He regularly advertised in the Stevens Point Journal, too.
Newspaper advertisements for 1998, 1999, and 2000. All newspaper advertisements from the Stevens Point Journal.
It paid off. By year five he was booking bands from Chicago and Milwaukee who came in as headliners. Instead of having six local bands he had three or four local bands followed by the regional act. It was year eight, in 1999, when national act Jackyl took the stage. Jackyl is an Atlanta-based rock band who turned heads with their 1992 song “The Lumberjack”, when the band used a chainsaw as an instrument. During live performances singer Jesse James Dupree would take a chainsaw to a wooden bar stool, carving off chunks and spraying sawdust at the crowd, who loved it. Jackyl was a hit from the start, drawing huge crowds, but more importantly, helping Mark build his skills at festival organization. Jesse pointed out ways that the festival could run smoother and ways that Mark could better advertise. Jesse connected Mark with other bands and their agents and helped him get better radio commercials and more eye-catching newspaper advertisements. Jackyl would play Rock On Heffron in 1999, 2001, and 2003. In hindsight, Mark thinks they were so popular he could have tried to book them every year. But there were so many bands to try, like Great White in 2000; the 10th annual festival at the Heffron Tavern. Great White had won a Grammy for their performance of their 1989 song “Once Bitten, Twice Shy” and had traveled with Iron Maiden, Kiss, and Anthrax. Bringing them to Heffron was a huge deal and drew the largest crowd in Rock On Heffron history, with just over 1,500 attendees.
It was a lot of work to make the event happen every year, but he didn’t do it alone. In 1995 Mark married Jane, who joined him in planning and organizing the event. Mark and Jane would spend 10 months planning, two weeks setting up, and then a couple days cleaning up and tearing it down. They were always booking, planning, checking contracts, scheduling volunteers, and finding ways to make the event go smoothly. Jane worked a full-time job during the week and ran the Heffron Tavern on the weekends. There were other helpers, too. Just a short ways down the road from the Heffron Tavern was a local man with 20 acres of land; he allowed Rock On Heffron attendees to park and camp there. Mark’s sisters, Sue and Nicole, also pitched in. Sue helped with merchandise like t-shirts and sales at the event and Nicole did a little bit of everything, bringing a group of friends to tend bar or work the food stand. Nicole acted as the local host for traveling acts. Regional and national bands regularly had special requests in their contracts, asking for specific meals and drinks, a certain number of cigarettes, or special equipment for their act. Nicole made sure they got what they needed and often cooked for the bands when they weren’t performing. The Heffron Tavern was renovated and expanded. It went from 12 bar stools to seating for 40 inside. Mark and Jane were busy running the Tavern on a day-to-day basis and the needs of Rock On Heffron were only growing.
It came to a head in 2003. Both Sue and Nicole unexpectedly passed away that year and Mark had less than a month between the loss of Nicole and Rock On Heffron. It was too late to cancel the show. So Mark and Jane took the next year, 2004, off. No Rock On Heffron was held. Instead, friends came together for a night of reminiscence. The last Rock On Heffron was held in 2005 with Blackberry Smoke headlining the night, bringing southern rock to southern Portage County. But it wasn’t the same without Sue and Nicole, and Mark did not schedule another year after 2005.
Mark and Jane ran the Heffron Tavern until 2011, when they sold it and bought a coffee shop in Amherst, The Landmark. They ran it for almost 10 years and hosted regular shows in the basement, albeit at a much smaller scale than they had at the Heffron Tavern. Solo or duo acoustic acts were perfect for the space and they could sell beer or wine to the evening crowd who came to hear good guitar players with an ear for classic rock or country.
Now that they’re not attached to The Landmark, they can travel. Mark and Jane both love traveling across the state to see bands perform. They’ve seen Jackyl twice since 2003, most recently in 2023, and both times singer Jesse has made time to meet with them and reminisce. Jesse isn’t the only one who hasn’t forgotten the good times at the Heffron Tavern. Mark gets recognized at concerts and around Portage County and still hears “Rock on, Heffron!” yelled from car windows. Does he miss it? Sort of. Mark misses the community that was built over the 15 years. He misses familiar faces and catching up with old friends.
Rock On Heffron is done but the memories are not. Rural Portage County residents still remember national acts coming to the Heffron Tavern. Local bands like Planet of 9, Unit One, High Risk and Funkle Ester benefitted immensely from the crowds that Jackyl and Great White drew. The Heffron Tavern is still running, although it is three owners removed from Mark and Jane Nowak. The next time you drive through southeastern Portage County, take a detour through Heffron and cue up “The Lumberjack” for the Nowaks.
Want to see more newspaper articles about Rock On Heffron? Check out the PCHS digital collection at this link.
The Portage County Historical Society's feature exhibit, Rhythms of the River; the History of Music in Portage County, will be open through fall of 2026. Visit Heritage Park in Plover during park open hours to view the exhibit. To learn more, check out this link.