The Mental Awakening festival began with crawfish. More accurately, it began with about 300 crawfish in a backyard filled with friends.
From March 27 to 28, Westside Motor Lounge will become home to Mental Awakening’s two-day festival packed with thousands of attendees, live music, local art and “community spirit” aimed at supporting mental health and suicide prevention. But it has much more humble roots.
Mental Awakening began in 2019 when Michael Robertson and friends needed a way to honor their friend, Cole Hagood, who had committed suicide earlier in the year. The pair loved attending concerts together, so the event was an easy choice: A backyard show full of friends playing music and cooking up tons of crawfish thanks to Robertson’s Alabama roots.
“It was with the intention of honoring a friend who passed away,” Director of Talent and Marketing Connor Krudys said.
About 150 people visited that first year, and two bands played — both made up of Hagood’s friends. Robertson said it “was cool to see” that level of support. But it pushed him and his friends to go further. So they founded “Crawfish for a Cause,” an official nonprofit dedicated to raising funds for and promoting mental health awareness, with Robertson as the nonprofit president.
Then the nonprofit planned a follow-up festival for March 2020 — but the onset of COVID-19 cancelled the affair. The Mental Awakening festival would not properly return until 2021, as a proper backyard affair. But in 2022, it exploded. Connor Krudys joined the team as marketing director, and the group decided to take the festival to a public place.
“That way, we could kind of open it up to the public and allow it to be something that is more in a brewery setting, rather than being just in a backyard,” Krudys said.
It helped solidify the operation. Mental Awakening moved to the now-closed brewery Steady Hand Beer Co in West Midtown. The model was simple — relatively inexpensive tickets to cover the costs, and all the extra funds would go to mental health charities. And the organizers would do it without pay.
“We’re doing this for love of the game, so to speak, for the people that are coming, people we can save and then the people that we’ve lost,” Robertson said.
Robertson said a lot of people who work on the event are “salt of the earth music fans” who go to dozens of shows a year. They work on the festival as volunteers, coordinating talent, vendors and marketing. More than anything, they’re fans of the music world.
“It’s almost like we’re creating a festival for music fans, by music fans,” Krudys said.
Robertson said he understands what consumers want, because he’s been to so many festivals. And people want a fully-stocked operation.
The brewery helped Mental Awakening elevate to music fans’ standards. It had bathrooms, power, space for a stage and access to food and alcohol. It turned it from a backyard affair to a legitimate festival — and fans responded.
By 2022, organizers predicted about 350 attendees. They sold over 800 tickets. A year later, the festival drew over 1,200 attendees. This year they expect over 2,000 attendees at the two-day festival with a lineup including Dogs in a Pile, Wax Monkey, Frute Tand Yule, Big Something, Dizgo and more. It’s a blend of bluegrass, jam bands, rock and funk. Of course, the crawfish is still cooking, too.
“The drive for this is expanded beyond us,” Krudys said.
Krudys and Robertson think the crowd has resonated with Crawfish for a Cause. During the festival, nonprofit members will speak on mental health issues. Sometimes the bands even join in. Krudys said many friend groups have lost a friend to suicide, and it helps them relate to the mission.
“This is for everyone to be able to appreciate what the goal and the mission behind this is,” Krudys said.
In 2026, Mental Awakening has more sponsors and grant dollars than ever before. The nonprofit brought on a handful of new volunteers to run things like sales and public relations. The festival’s new home, Westside Motor Lounge, will feature two stages and a “vendor village” for attendee shopping.
And Mental Awakening is already up 40% in ticket sales compared to 2025.
Robertson and Krudys said they will be able to donate a “substantial amount” to mental health organizations after the end of this year’s event. The new staff also frees up some room for the nonprofit to be “detail-oriented” and think about smaller events, like a recent fundraiser in Athens, Ga., for the nonprofit Nuci’s Space.
So far, Crawfish for a Cause has already donated over $100,000 — and they just keep growing. It may be a nine-month-long workload with no pay, but the team is happy to do it.
“If we’re saving one person through the advocacy of the event, if we’re impacting one person’s life with the $100,000 we’ve raised for many organizations since 2021, it’s worth it,” Robertson said.
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