CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – HeartRock in Schuyler is a venue usually reserved for weddings and retreats. This weekend, it will transform into a music festival more than two years in the making.

The inaugural ZoeFest takes place Friday and Saturday at the venue of owners Greg Smith and Kim Earhart. The festival is being held in honor of their daughter, Zoe, who passed from cancer in 2018.

“She loved life,” said Smith. “She just loved to bring people together and people responded to that.”

Now, Smith and his wife hope to bring music lovers together along with local performers like Chamomile and Whiskey, Valerie McQueen, and the Jen Tal Band in a celebration of Zoe’s life.

Smith explained the origins of ZoeFest began with an unlikely friendship with singer-songwriter Amos Lee. During a massage therapy session with Zoe’s godmother, Lory Bedotto, a massage therapist and founder of Cville Massage Therapy, shared Zoe’s story with Amos who took an interest and made an effort to connect.

“He befriended Zoe and talked to her a lot through her journey,” Smith said, “he even had people from his audience sing to her and then send the message to Zoe.”

After Zoe’s passing, Amos wrote a song titled “Carry You On” which he performed at her sister Sophia’s wedding at HeartRock in 2024. Lee was so taken with the space and with Zoe’s journey he suggested Smith and Earhart host a music festival in honor of Zoe. After more than a year of preparation since the idea was brought up, Smith was ready to give it a go. Lee was unavailable for the festival due to prior commitments, though he does plan to make it for ZoeFest 2027. Smith connected with local musicians such as Chamomile and Whiskey and Valerie McQueen among others and built out ZoeFest.

Zoe was a music lover, performer, and sometimes even composer Smith said.

“She played the cello, she played guitar,” he said. “She even wrote quirky little songs as, you know, young girls do with their guitar.”

In addition to the festival, Greg and Kim also started a nonprofit they named ZoeFest, Inc. with the funds raised from the festival can go towards families who may be going through much of what they experienced during Zoe’s journey.

“We had a lot of people reach out and just support us, but the thing that we saw is that there were a lot of families in the hospital that their parents couldn’t be there,” said Smith. “We want to give back to people to allow them to at least be with their kids through one of the hardest things any human could ever go through.”

The festival begins with a free Worship Night on Friday before the music starts Saturday at 1 p.m. As Greg and Kim look to keep Zoe’s memory and presence felt through the event, patrons will see Zoe on every shirt for the event featuring her personal motto.

“She had this phrase that a friend of ours found that she wrote down,” said Smith, “It’s ‘Remember to laugh, to be happy and to love your life.'”