Coffee, Music and Community

The grassroots nonprofit, formed in 2016, launched its annual Common Roots Festival to showcase local talent. Six years later, it added twice-monthly performances at various community venues and began planning for a permanent home.

By late 2024, the organization had raised $75,000 to purchase Oblivion Coffee Bar & Mercantile and create a home for the B-Side. Rockhouse Productions contributed
$10,000; an anonymous donor gave $15,000; and the remaining funds came from more than 300 donors, plus a music event and silent auction that raised $3,000.

“That was what gave us the heart to do this,” said Mike Lardy, a musician, member of the IMCCM board and owner of Bravo Burrito. When B-Side had its grand opening, people were lined up out the door.

• Music anchors B-Side’s events calendar—with songwriting workshops, monthly open jam sessions and concerts that feature up-and-coming musicians in a variety of genres from punk to indie and folk. “We sold out our last show on the coldest night of the year,” Lardy said in late January.
• Wednesday open mic nights are so popular, they may expand the two-hour event to accommodate more musicians, said Ringsmuth, who estimated 800 performers played on their stage in the cafe’s first six months.
• B-Side also aims to be a cozy ‘third space,” an all-ages hangout for people away from home and work or school. Patrons go to study or work, catch up with friends, or meet colleagues.
• Non-music events have included board-game nights, winter farmers’ markets, in-depth discussion topics such as death and dying, tattoo fundraisers, and stand-up comedians.
• The building includes an upstairs classroom space for future workshops. The Wirth Center for the Performing Arts is planning to relocate next door to B-Side from its location near St. Mary’s Cathedral on First St. South. Together, they complement St. Cloud’s other music performance venues such as Paramount Center for the Arts, Pioneer Place on Fifth, and the Red Carpet Nightclub.