The Gable Story

Gable Music Ventures formed in Wilmington, Delaware to create a platform for young people to perform original music. In late 2010, Gayle Dillman was a stay at home mom, going through some major life changes. Jeremy Hebbel was a Wilmington born musician and artist working at Accent Music. When Gayle had an issue with a guitar she purchased, Jeremy offered to lend her one of his guitars so Gayle's daughter could continue practicing. This gesture started a friendship that ultimately reignited Gayle’s passion for live music. Jeremy began working with Gayle’s daughter on some original songs she was writing, which eventually lead to a need for Erica to perform her original material. Having found a lot of difficulty finding an appropriate venue for her 15 year old daughter to perform her music, Gayle took it upon herself to rent the Center for Creative Arts in Yorklyn to put on a show with the help of Jeremy. The event, which was dubbed “First Annual Yorklyn Rock Showcase” sold over one hundred tickets.

Jeremy had made the decision shortly before the Yorklyn event to relocate to San Diego with Stephen Finn, his co-worker, friend at Accent Music, and bandmate in Petey Lownotes & The Truckstop Regulars. After Jeremy left, several people reached out to encourage Gayle Dillman to throw more all ages friendly shows, but she had already caught the bug with the Yorklyn event. Gayle called Jeremy and let him know of her plan to start a business to create opportunities for all ages original music in Wilmington, and asked if he would be interested in partnering. Jeremy, who had only just left for San Diego in January, asked if he could enjoy the warmth until March, happily accepted the opportunity.

The name "Gable" comes from the combination of Gayle and Hebbel. The well recognized Gable guitar logo was designed by Jeremy, who's background is in Illustration, while he was still in San Diego. The business was officially incorporated in February of 2011, and the first official Gable Music Ventures event was the Original Music Showcase on May 21, 2011 at the Siegel Jewish Community Center. The event featuring a great lineup including Baltimore's The Late Bloomer Band, The Hold Up, Rory Sullivan, and of course, Gayle’s daughter Erica performed.

Over the last nine years the business has become best known for their work creating the popular yearly summer event the Ladybug Music Festival which has grown to become the largest celebration of women in music in the Country. The event attracted approximately 12,000 attendees into downtown Wilmington in 2019. We work tirelessly to make Wilmington a destination for live entertainment, and to find performance opportunities for musicians in Delaware. As Gayle is so often heard saying, “there are over 5,000 seats for entertainment on Market Street alone between the Queen, the Playhouse, and the Grand”.

We have found a niche in our market as special event consultants, and entertainment service providers, frequently engaged to program live entertainment for a variety of local businesses and events. We have been recognized by the city of Wilmington with an official Mayoral proclamation declaring July 20, and 21,  2017 “Ladybug Days” in Wilmington. The Ladybug Festival won best special event in 2016 for Excellence in Revitalization by Downtown Delaware. And has since expanded down state into Milford where it won Best New Event by Southern Delaware Tourism in 2018.  93.7fm WSTW has awarded The Ladybug Festival as the best original music concert or event four times through the Hometown Heroes local music show. 

We are proud that despite adapting quite a bit since forming the business, we have stayed true to our mission and vision of creating platforms and opportunities for original music to be performed by artists of all ages. We feel that the most important work we are doing is identifying the next generation of local musicians and employing them to perform.