By Brooke Brown
An average grocery store parking lot was transformed into a bustling showcase of live music and free food on Friday night.
'Rockstock' was the first annual band competition put on by Ream''s grocery store.
The free event was held from 8-11 p.m. in the parking lot outside of the 'family friendly' grocery store, deliberately held at an hour that would attract college students and not offend family customers, said Ream''s Marketing Director Hyrum Oaks.
Despite the event being directed at young adults, many adults and small children were amongst the crowd of an estimated 3,000 people.
'Our goal is to make Ream''s a fun environment for college students,' Oaks said. 'Also, we are a really family-friendly company, and we want to show that to our local clientele.'
To help cover the costs of the event and attract more students, 'Rockstock' featured free food samples and other give-aways from nearby restaurants, such as Olive Garden, Cold Stone, Bamboo Hut and Papa''s Southern Smoked BBQ.
'I saw a flyer on campus about the free food and saw that there were going to be some really good deals at Ream''s, so I came and got myself some chicken,' said Emmett Fletcher, a physics major and BYU freshman.
Tim Norris, Ream''s assistant store manager, explained the large crowds with similar reasoning.
'All you have to say is ''free food'' and the college kids come running,' Norris said.
While the food lured the guests, the crowd was kept entertained by the eight bands that signed up to play and compete for the title of battle winner.
'This time, we had open enrollment due to time constraints,' Oaks said. 'The only requirement was for the bands to sign a waiver agreeing not to sell promiscuous or vulgar lyrics. If they did, they would be disqualified.'
Bands were judged in an 'American Idol' fashion, each assigned a cell phone number where fans were encouraged to text their vote.
The top three bands of the evening were Tempered, Jolly Mamas and Against the Season. All three were invited to play at the next 'Rockstock' event on Oct. 12.
October''s event will showcase five bands, comprised of the three winning bands from Friday''s show and two other bands that have been chosen from a demo tape submission.
Jolly Mamas, a band made up of four BYU sophomores, was happy with the turnout at the first 'Rockstock.'
'This is our career. We rock 24-7. So we are happy to see so many people out here and get exposure,' said lead singer, Dave Hawkins.