THE ART OF THE SWIRL

Photo by C. Michael Stewart, cmichaelsphotos.com

MEDIA EVENTS USA: JOHN GRANTZ AND THE ART OF THE SWIRL

by Julie Engelhardt

Louisville hosts some of the best entertainment and performances in the commonwealth, from star-studded concerts to beach bashes, and everything in between. Attendees are treated to incredible events that keep them talking for weeks. While the finished product may look effortless, these performances take a great deal of planning and execution.

Enter Louisville native John Grantz, owner of Media Events USA. Those familiar with Grantz know he’s the “go-to guy” who has the insight and skills to make these occasions memorable. Grantz’s foray into event planning began while he was in his mid-teens, and he says he’s always had an entrepreneurial spirit.

Grantz attended St. Xavier High School in the 1970s, which is when his event business began to blossom. He started out working as a DJ, playing at his high school’s mixers, which eventually led to a mobile DJ business, playing at schools such as Sacred Heart, Trinity, Assumption, and Male. After high school, Grantz began to study law but changed course, studying advertising and marketing instead.

His entertainment acumen began to expand while in college. “I did marketing for a few nightclubs, and I was working with some bands,” he says. He soon went on to take on a larger role in the business by renting halls, booking bands, working as a DJ, and marketing to the college crowd.

“I became a one-stop shop for providing entertainment,” Grantz says. “I could do everything from conceptualizing an event to making sure it was cleaned up afterwards.”

Soon after, his career segued into working for a couple of radio stations that hired him to produce their events. “I was sort of freelancing, and I continued doing that, and just started from there.”

Louisville’s Largest Beach Bash. Photo by Mark Sickles.

What are some of the shows Grantz has produced? He helped create Louisville’s Largest Beach Bash on the waterfront before the area was completely developed. “What I did in the beginning of the summer when they were in the process of developing the waterfront, I took

Photo by C. Michael Stewart, cmichaelsphotos.com

that space for several years and would drop 2 million pounds of sand on it,” Grantz says. “I had the AVP Volleyball Tournament come in, and I brought in a bunch of beach music, cajun and reggae music, and acts like Otis Day and the Knights. That lasted for three or four years, and we had as many as 10,000 people in attendance.”

Another mega event produced by Grantz was the Waterside Arts and Blues Festival held during the 4th of July weekend. It featured between 100 and 150 juried artists who presented their work during the day, and then in the evening, musical acts like Double Trouble and Albert King would entertain the crowds.

As the waterfront was developed, Grantz was asked if there was something he could do to help get people down to the area. He put together a series called “Rockin’ at Riverpointes.” This free, 10-week concert series took four years to get off the ground, but eventually evolved into the WFPK’s popular Waterfront Wednesdays.

Grantz has also been involved with producing events in West Virginia, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Some of his other large events locally include the grand opening of the Great Lawn and Waterfront Park, which was televised and attracted over 100,000 people, and more recently, the “Strings Attached” series with the Louisville Orchestra.

More than an event planner, Grantz is an ambassador for Louisville. Grantz is known for much more than events. For the past 24 years, he has worked with Louisville Public Media as senior corporate marketing representative, where his primary job is to show businesses in the Louisville area how to use the media as a marketing tool. He’s also worked on regatta sailboat races, organized triathlons, and he even put together a haunted house for a corporate event.

In 2020, Grantz and his team had to pivot, and master “the art of the swirl,” as he calls it. He spent a lot of time and energy getting up to speed on new health regulations related to safe gatherings and the pandemic. “I became certified through the Orange County, Calif., board of health for COVID compliance, when it comes to staging special events,” he says. “I also got a COVID contact tracing certification from Johns Hopkins University. I was able to use those to work with my clients to help them navigate through that challenge.”

The next year will be as busy as ever for Grantz. Two events in the works are the John Hartford Memorial Festival in central Indiana and the New Albany Bicentennial Park Concert Series in downtown New Albany.

He plans to continue to bring highquality entertainment to the Louisville area for many years to come, with a focus on audience experience. “The main thing is presenting safe, sustainable events that help add to the flavor of the community,” he says.

For more information, visit MediaEventsUSA.com or facebook.com/mediaeventsusa