Every September for the past 29 years as the Junior League of Wichita Falls hosts its own outdoor weekend festival, Lucy Park gets flooded, not by rain, but with vendor booths, beer tents, bouncy houses filled with painted-faced children, and live music.

This year, on its 30th anniversary, that legacy will end an event that in its second year running put the ‘falls’ back into Wichita Falls.

On the final Saturday night, Sept. 26, the headlining performance will be Wichita Falls’ royalty and Grammy-nominated pop-punk band, Bowling for Soup.

“You know, it’s bittersweet because it’s the final show on our tour and it’s the last FallsFest, but we can’t think of a better place to end it, because it’s where we started,” said Jaret Reddick, lead vocalist, guitarist and MSU alumnus.

Bowling for Soup last played FallsFest in 2007. Since then, they have released four albums including their most recent compilation called “Songs People Actually Liked.” It is volume one of songs released from 1994 to 2003. And then they hit the road with the first leg of their U.S. tour, which consisted of 11 performances in June 2015.

“It feels good having our second leg end in Wichita Falls with our friends and family we haven’t seen in the crowd. We’re probably going to be related to a lot of that audience. It’s gonna’ be a good time.”

According to the Junior League website, “Mounting entertainment costs, manpower, and additional entertainment options have all lead to this decision.  FallsFest was developed 30 years ago to promote our outdoor green spaces and offer affordable entertainment for the family.”

Bowling for Soup

Reddick graduated in 1994 with a bachelor’s degree in marketing. That same year he formed the band that would later have hits like “1985,” “Belgium,” “Girl all the Bad Guys Want,” “Almost,” and “Ohio (Come Back to Texas).”

“I loved my time at MSU,” Reddick said. “But I was working a lot, and playing in a band, so I didn’t have as much time to partake in college life. But I loved the Business Department.”

In addition, Reddick said he liked the intimacy of the courses he took.

“We were pretty much forced to participate because the classes were smaller and the professors cared that you actually got something out of it,” Reddick said. “I definitely look back fondly at being a MSU Indian – but I know you guys are Mustangs now.”

Reddick and his band mates – Chris Burney on guitar and vocals, and Erik Chandler on the bass guitar and vocals, have been playing as Bowling for Soup for 21 years. The only exception is percussionist Gary Wiseman, who replaced the bands’ original drummer in 1998.

Since then the band produced 14 albums and received a Grammy nomination for “Girl All the Bad Guys Want” in 2003. But when they were starting out in 1994, Reddick said there wasn’t much of music scene in their hometown.

“It wasn’t the easiest place to start a band,” Reddick said. “But that motivated us and we just played, and played, and played. And now there are just tons of bands around. The cool thing about Wichita Falls is that you can play in places like Denton, Dallas, and Oklahoma City. It’s centrally located and a good place to spread your wings.”

And that they did when four years later the band decided to make the move to Denton.

“We found an audience in Denton, and once we started playing shows there, it progressed,” Reddick said. “We got signed and it just made sense for the move. Denton became home.”

Reddick said their audience has evolved along with the band.

“You know, we started out as a bar band in Wichita Falls, moved to Denton and then became a venue band and our audience expanded from there with the radio hits,” Reddick said.

In addition, Reddick said Bowling for Soup is different because their music can tie generations together.

“We have Dads that will come up to us and say that they have nothing in common with their teenage daughter except when they go to our shows together,” Reddick said. “It’s nice to hear that.”

The “Bowling for Soup Turns 21 Tour” continues on Sept. 11. The band will perform in Colorado and eventually head to the west coast before they themselves come back to Texas. After FallsFest, the band will rest up for their upcoming 2016 tour in the U.K.

Reddick said if he had to pick out of all the venues they have played over the years, his favorite would have to be performing on stage at Download Festival. It’s a three-day summer rock festival in the U.K. in which Bowling for soup has headlined twice – in 2011 and 2014.

“It’s hard to beat that environment and see all those people sing along to the songs you wrote,” Reddick said. “And U.K audiences are very energetic because music is so much a part of their culture.”

Even with all of the time they spend, from playing in the U.S. to traveling to other countries, Reddick said the band still loves playing together.

“We have watched a lot of bands fall apart from being together too much but we sort of go against the grain,” Reddick said. “We have a family relationship and we know when to leave the other guy alone. It’s nice to look back and still call the people we have spent so much time with our family.”

Part of that comes from the fact they are all big fans of comedy. Reddick said the band’s name hails from a joke from comedian Steve Martin. In Martin’s skit, he talks about bowling for something very different and explicit. They decided to change the last three letters of the term, coining their identity as “Bowling for Soup.”