FloydFest: Family Friendly Music Festival Camping

When a writer noted last year that FloydFest had made TIME magazine’s list ‘240 Reasons to Celebrate America’  as a “Summer Fests We Love,” FloydFest in Floyd, Virginia, and its co-creators Kris Hodges and Erika Johnson were being feted, it came as no surprise to those who know the event and the founders. To hear FloydFest exec Sam Calhoun sing its praises, the event is rockin’ on a roll – a 20-year roll. No small part of that is the smallest attendees at this welcoming festival.

In our last blog, we wrote about the community that for two decades has been central to FloydFest. Like many festivals, most first-timers go attend their first FloydFest to experience great music, do some camping, and – if they learned of the event from friends, family, Facebook shares, or somewhere else – to see what the hooplah is all about. And as it true with many fests – certainly those #RoadtripMojo has attended – they soon discover the community. Strangers turned friends turned family. They come back, year after year, to be together, enjoy the event, break out the instruments for a pickin’ circle, and generally participate in shenanigans found few other places in daily life. 

To those who know, an event like FloydFest is a family-friendly festival. Families with young kids will find a welcoming, family fun environment. The Children’s Universe will make sure the kinder have as much fun as the elders.

To be clear, FloydFest is family friendly, but it isn’t some family-only shindig. Sure, kids are welcome. But “children” of all ages can have as much fun as they want. It’s a music festival, after all. As Creedence Clearwater Revival wrote in 1970, “Look at all the happy creatures dancing on the lawn…”

In the second installment of our sit down with producer Sam Calhoun, we asked about what people have come to know about FloydFest – and what keeps bringing them back…

RTM: Give me three things people can expect from FloydFest Vision Quest 2020 that they might not find elsewhere?

Sam Calhoun: The first one has to be that family friendly atmosphere. Like you, I have been across this country and around the world to so many different events. There is nothing as safe and accommodating for families as FloydFest. It’s a place where you can let your kids wander free and feel safe that the community’s protecting them. Now that said, we also have the  Children’s Universe. We even have babysitting cooperative at the center of our festival sites. You can kind of set your kids there if you have a main stage show. The children’s programming we have I think really sets us apart from other festivals. And that’s a real high for me.

RTM: We’ve written about family friendly festing. Some fests say, “Kids are welcome,” but once you’re there, you’re thinking twice about the environment, or the fest doesn’t necessarily lend a hand. Sounds like you were truly engaging with the families to help them make the most of their festival experience.

Sam Calhoun: We promote it as such, even down to ticket prices. Still to this day for a $30 flat rate, kids from ages 6 to 12 can come enjoy all five days of the festival. You want to encourage people to bring the kids to a festival. That’s always been our calling card. We really should call it our fourth pillar, after outdoor adventure, live music, and craft libations. We’re family friendly. It really is a backbone of what we do.

The second thing is that we really are a community. It’s like a family reunion. Whether you’ve been there one year, whether you’ve been there 20 years. It’s wild. Upon entry, you’re gonna walk through the crowd with the faces you’ve seen before. You’re going to get all the hugs and high fives you possibly could the imagine. That family atmosphere, that community atmosphere, it includes the artists backstage, the vendors. Everyone becomes one big family. That sounds cliche, but I think it’s so needed in today’s time. We need that sanctuary that get away and get together.

And that family atmosphere kind of translates to musicians. We started five years ago the Buffalo Mountain Jam, and it was in honor of Greg Allman’s illness and untimely death. We had to pull together some musician friends – Leftover Salmon, Keller Williams – and they brought together an amazing Saturday collaboration called the Buffalo Mountain Jam. Now it permeates our lineup. We’ve announced Turkuaz will be celebrating the Talking Heads’ Remain in Light 40th anniversary with The Band’s Jerry Harrison and guitarist Adrian Belew. That 1980 album for me, is among my top five. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime collaboration that’s indelible.

RTM: What’s next leading up to the show?

Sam Calhoun: On December 3rd, we’ll have another announcement come out. If you want to be up to date, head on over to FloydFest.com and sign up for our newsletter. Following that, the next big date to keep in mind is the ticket price increase on January 1st, and another one on April 1st. By April, we’ll have the complete line up.”

Family friendly, a great community, craft libations, and once-and-done musical collaborations and performances – that’s FloydFest.

So, where do you plan to be late July 2020? Floyd County, Virginia’s sure sounding sweet to us….