The Homegrown Music Festival is more than just a celebration of sound—for singer-songwriter Emily Haavik, it’s where her musical journey truly began.

The festival holds a special place in her heart.

“It’s just, it’s one of my favorite times of the year. It’s very special. I think that the festival, everyone who works on it has built it into something so beautiful,” says Emily.

In fact, one of her first real performances happened at Homegrown.

“I think I had put out one song on SoundCloud. And then I applied for Homegrown with my SoundCloud song and I hadn’t played any shows. I’d maybe played open mics and they gave me a shot and that kind of sparked it, because I had to get over the fear of doing a real show with a full band.”

Fifteen Homegrowns later, and counting, Emily’s time on stage—and off—has evolved.

“I used to be the young, like out-till-2 a.m. girl. Now I’m like, I just roll in for my set and then I go to bed. I’m just kidding. I do go out—early.”

Motherhood has become a key part of that evolution.

“I’ve been pregnant for two Homegrowns. This is my second pregnant Homegrown, and I’m seven months. So, I won’t pop on stage.”

She laughs, recalling how pregnancy hasn’t stopped others in her band either.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure one Homegrown, my fiddle player, it was her due date. She was pregnant. She still showed up. We were at Sacred Heart, and we just told everybody, if she runs off the stage it’s ’cause she’s having her baby.”

And even with life getting fuller, music remains at the heart of it all.

“Last night at band practice, we had seven kids. Oh, my goodness. And they’re all—my kid wasn’t there, or it would have been a disaster, because he’s two. But these kids are all, 6 to 13. They all just played with each other. They played upstairs, and we practiced downstairs. Then I would kind of censor some of the swears. But it’s a really cool thing. I think the kids getting exposed to it is awesome. I’m so excited that my kid will grow up around music and musicians, because I think he’ll get something really special out of that.”

As her identity as a mother deepens, it’s also inspiring new creative directions—like her upcoming album Wingspan.

“I think it’s really opened up a new creative zone for me. The intensity of the love I feel for my kid is so different from anything I’ve experienced.”

When she wrote the album’s title track, she wasn’t expecting it to strike such a personal chord.

“When I wrote the song ‘Wingspan,’ which is the title track, I wasn’t thinking of it as very emotional or very personal. I really actually wrote it—I wanted it to be like a ’90s throwback song about fame and how fame wrestles with family. And how when you achieve everything you wanted, are you going to realize you lost everything that mattered?”

But over time, the deeper meaning behind it became clear.

“But what I realized when I wrote it, after a while, thinking about this song, it’s also about this tension between family and art and family and ambition, which is something I think we all wrestle with and I think, as a woman, is a unique wrestle.”

She adds a hopeful note of encouragement.

“The world isn’t set up for us to have it all, for sure. But I think you can fight for quite a bit.”

All it took was one SoundCloud song, a leap of faith—and Homegrown. It became the launchpad for her career.

The music may change year to year, but one thing hasn’t: Emily plans to keep returning to that stage.

“Ya, it’s so special, it’s such a great community, it’s just like this energy that kind of infects you.”