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Enjoy Music, Change the World: HeadCount on the Festival Scene

Music festivals are about more than the magic of music and the camaraderie of community. For some, they’re also about giving back. At major fests and Dead & Company shows nationwide, HeadCount creates the Participation Row Activism Village where festival attendees are encouraged to register to vote or see if their current voter registration is active. It’s about “meeting voters where they are,” said Lindsay Berberich, HeadCount’s onsite director.

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FloydFest Pumps the Music Festival Heartbeat

You could excuse Sam Calhoun if he gloats a bit about the success FloydFest Odyssey enjoyed earlier this year. Fresh off the fear of the pandemic, the festival, which had gone quiet like almost all others in 2020, returned loud, proud and pretty damn safe. Definitely worth boasting about.

While other fests remained locked down or overly cautious, Calhoun’s show – “FloydFest Odyssey 2021” – went on. Fans enjoyed Music. Magic. Mountains. in the hills of Virginia.

The odyssey didn’t end after the show. It seemed to endure after the closing act, like notes carrying through the hills of Virginia. One of the first to cancel in 2020, they were among the first to return with a “traditional” (no pods, no distancing) fest in 2021.

“The afterglow of getting through Odyssey is wild,” says Calhoun, producer with promoter Across-the-Way Productions.

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Safe Distancing, Vaccines Bringing Music Festivals Back

Under a slow but steady rain on a North Florida spring night, some 700 music lovers gathered for the Funky Mardi Gras concerts. Huddled in makeshift shelters or their golf carts, or dancing under the stars and rain, they were undeterred by anything Mother Nature could send their way.

After all, for many, it had been a year or more since Mother Nature had rained hell on humanity in the form of a pandemic. It had been that long since many had experienced live music in person. So with the social distancing guidelines promoters at the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park crafted, they were determined to make the most of it.

“We loved last weekend,” enthused festival veteran Matthew O’Brien. “Driving our golf cart on to the show field and being together with our crew was the best. It was a fun, safe and convenient way to enjoy the show. Can’t wait to do it again.”

It seems O’Brien will get his chance.

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Music Festival Fairgrounds, Campgrounds or Resorts: What’s Your Park?

With so many RV parks and event and music festival campgrounds out there, and so little personal insight into them all, how can someone find the right park for them? We were looking for a quick RV getaway recently when I floated an ask out to the Facebook community. “We’re in SoFla and building a list of wooded full h/u campgrounds (not ‘resorts’) north to G’ville (Gainesville). What’re your favorites – and why?” The “not resorts” caveat was key. We want the woods, or at least wooded, preferably on water.

How do people pick the RV destination that’s right for them – especially a campground they’ve never visited before? Just ask…

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Everglades Roots Music Festival Gives Swamp Life a Playlist

Don’t ask Jack Shealy what really excites him about Everglades Roots Festival at his family’s campground deep in the Florida swamp and expect an easy answer. It’s tough, and he really can’t put his finger on it. There’s the music, the Trail Lakes Campground itself, the Everglades experience, the Cracker Culture, even the skunk ape he’s certain lurks in the woods and maw just beyond the treeline.

It’s easy to understand Shealy’s struggle. Now in its third year, the festival will bring a hot line up of blues, bluegrass, and folk talent. The show’s line-up boasts two sets of Grateful Dead players Grass Is Dead, along with The Firewater Tent Revival, Free Range Strange, Gator Nate, Daryl Hance PowerMuse, and a host of other acts. In this installment of Sit Down with the Producer, we’ll see what makes Everglades Roots Festival and host Trail Lakes Campground shine is this neck of the Glades.

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