May 16 Vallejo/Vacaville Arts and Entertainment Source: Rockin’ Music Festival celebrates Neurofibromatosis Awareness Month

Two years ago, Debbie Bell sat on a bench in Lagoon Valley, wondering how to make a fundraiser that was more than just a walk. It needed to be fun for the family, while also drawing awareness and support for Neurofibromatosis California, the nonprofit she directed.

After 20 years of walking fundraisers around school tracks, hiking trails and park paths, Bell thought a cornhole event sounded new and interesting. Her co-chair, Roy Owens, offered his own suggestion: A battle of the bands music festival.

Harnessing the community’s love for live music, this year’s 2nd Annual Rockin’ Hops Music Festival is a two-day family-friendly event celebrating Neurofibromatosis Awareness Month.

Nine bands, including Smokehouse Reunion, GiGi and the Gentz and Groovy Judy, are donating their performances for the event on May 18-19 at Solano Brewing Company.

“My son didn’t choose to have NF — it was just a genetic mutation,” said Debbie Bell, whose son Carter was diagnosed with Neurofibromatosis at 2 months old. The neurological disease causes tumors to grow along nervous system, often limiting a person’s movement depending on where the tumors form.

“They have to get up every day and fight for whatever their fight is,” said Bell.

As a mother and Executive Director of NF California for 20 years, that fight has become Bell’s fight. Since starting the nonprofit in 2004, Bell marvels at “the people we’ve helped, or how somebody’s heart feels full when they’re meeting somebody (with NF) for the first time at the age of 40 or 50.”

The festival is as much a community fundraiser as it is a chance for Bell and her family to enjoy time together. With a looming CT scan occupying their thoughts, Bell and her family are eager for an outing that doesn’t involve the hospital.

“We’re able to provide an event that isn’t in a medical facility, that’s not a heavy symposium,” said Bell, though she says those are crucial to pursuing answers and establishing care. “This is more of a fun fellowship hangout, for people to hopefully go home and relax after and think, ‘I was in a place where I could feel comfortable’.”

Though each individual’s experience with NF is unique, Carter’s is familiar for those having to manage surgeries and physical therapy throughout their day-to-day life. By amplifying these stories and hosting community events, NF California spreads awareness while offering individuals with NF a chance to connect with peers.

“It’s the fellowship that comes from this,” said Bell. “Hopefully someday somebody will be at a store or restaurant where someone (with NF) is serving them and they won’t look at that person like ‘I don’t want them to serve me,’ they’ll say ‘Oh, do you have NF?’”

Among the food trucks and vendors at the festival, Carter will have his own table of rings that he creates from titanium, tungsten, ceramic, carbon fiber and cobalt crow. This creative outlet has been a hobby for Carter since he first learned in his senior year of high school.

“It gives me something to do besides laying in bed and watching TV,” said Carter, who has previously displayed his creations at the Farmers Market.

The event will also feature silent auctions and raffles to further support NF families and promote research.

IF YOU GO:

• WHAT: Rockin’ Hops Music Festival
• WHEN: May 18 and 19, 11 a.m.-8:30 p.m.; 11 a.m.-7:30 p.m.
• WHERE: Solano Brewing Company, 5500 Weber Road, Vacaville.
• TICKETS: Free entry