Two metro Atlanta high school seniors have turned grief into a full-scale music festival, organizing a Battle of the Bands at Chastain Park to honor a classmate who died in a motorcycle crash last year. Moses Anderson and Ansley Courtright have already raised more than $60,000 toward a $100,000 goal for the event, which will feature five student bands from five different metro Atlanta high schools.
The fundraiser, called Ramble at the Farm, is scheduled for Saturday, October 24, running from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 4001 Powers Ferry Rd NW, according to Givebutter. As reported by FOX 5 Atlanta, Anderson and Courtright said they wanted to do something positive after Benjamin Reiser's death and continue the work of the foundation established in his name. Tickets are currently on sale.
Reiser died in a motorcycle crash in September 2025 at age 16. He was a junior at Mount Vernon School, where he enjoyed swimming, pickleball, music, and talking through business ideas, per the FOX 5 Atlanta report.
Five Bands, One Stage, One Cause
The lineup for Ramble at the Farm will include five student bands representing five metro Atlanta high schools. The winning band will get the chance to record studio time with Grammy-winning producer Dallas Austin, the Columbus native and executive producer behind the 2002 film Drumline, as noted by Rough Draft Atlanta.
Before his death, Reiser worked as a summer swim coach at Chastain Park Conservancy, a detail that gives the fundraiser's location added weight. The park is also home to a Chastain Park Conservancy beautification project at the Red Lot called Benji's Island, sponsored by the foundation, according to the Benjamin Reiser Foundation.
A Foundation Built Around Financial Literacy
The Benjamin Reiser Foundation was formally established as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit shortly after Reiser's death to manage donations and support youth entrepreneurship, per GoFundMe. The foundation works to promote financial literacy among Atlanta-area high school students and encourage young entrepreneurship, according to the FOX 5 Atlanta report.
That mission dovetails with Georgia Senate Bill 220, part of the 2022 legislative session, which requires public high school students entering as freshmen in the 2024-2025 school year to complete a half-credit course in personal financial literacy during their 11th or 12th grade year in order to graduate, according to the Georgia Department of Education.
Part Of A Growing Series Of Memorial Fundraisers
The foundation held a pickleball tournament at the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta in Dunwoody, according to Swish Tournaments. Pickleball was among the sports Reiser actively played, tying the tournament directly back to his own interests.
Students gathered after Reiser's death. The Battle of the Bands will feature five student bands from five high schools.
