A new fest this month will break the norm Athens residents are accustomed to.
A music festival, titled Groove Street Fest, is set to take place Sept. 24 at the Dairy Barn Arts Center, 8000 Dairy Lane. Unlike other fests, the focus will be on the music, not the beer, said Jack Gould, one of the event’s organizers and a member of participating band First Street Heat.
“We’re going for a much different vibe than 8Fest. Anyone who’s been to the thing knows it’s not very much about the music at all,” said Gould, an Ohio University senior studying audio production.
Admission to the fest is $12 during an online presale and $15 at the door. Gould said that, given the quality of bands performing, tickets should have been priced higher.
It will take 600 attendees for the event to break even, but Gould is hoping for about 1,000 after personally investing more than $2,000 in the event. Like any inaugural fest, the goal is to attract a crowd and become an annual event.
“It’s really hard to make money on a first-year festival, and we deliberately made the tickets a lot cheaper than they probably should be,” Gould said. “We’re trying to build something sustainable. This isn’t going to be a one-time-only event.”
Organizers would like to see Groove Street Fest expand to a two-day event and allow attendees to camp at the site overnight.
Attendees are not permitted to bring their own alcohol to the event, but the Dairy Barn’s licensing does enable attendees to purchase alcohol — something that no other fest has to offer. Pabst Blue Ribbon will be sold in 16-ounce cans for $3 apiece, and another beer, possibly Leinenkugel, also will be available. Kaiser’s Barbeque also will be serving food at the event.
Gould and fellow band member Eric Turner are hoping that the weather stays dry the day of the fest, but tarps will be ready if they become necessary.
“We’re going to prepare for the worst,” Turner said, “Worse things have happened to a festival, and I don’t think weather will hinder us too much — short of a tornado.”
Presale tickets and directions to the Dairy Barn are available at www.groovestreetfest.com.
mt360307@ohiou.edu
