By: Kristen (Twitter: @BiscoAmbassador)
With the rise of EDM, music festivals,
and all things hau5 – it’s hard to find a festival so true to a
genre’s roots and scene. Then something like Forest Fest – a
progressive music, arts, and activism festival
- comes around and brings the purest of vibes for festival-goers to
share.
Forest Fest started just a mere four
years ago and has quite the story. The festival originally was hosted
at Forest Glen (hence, the name) in New York with a minimal budget,
the first year drawing out 50 attendees and a handful of bands. When
year 2 came around, original organizers: Andy
Lynch, Brad Gorfein, Micheal Steinberg, Meg Magnolia, Roman
Vinnichuck, and Heather Ording decided to make the event even bigger
and reached out to local Djs, Bands, and various vendors. The turnout
jumped to 300.
After the second
festival, still having a minimal budget, Forest Fest decided to make
the event a non-profit– something not so common in the music
festival industry. Instead of pricing water bottles at $10, like most
popular venues tend to do, Forest Fest was a BYO and donated any
proceeds to charity.
By the time the
3rd
Forest Fest came around, 700 eager campers flooded the field making
it very apparent that this festival was catching on like wildfire.
However, the festival’s neighbors were not so happy about the noise
and scene (that they, of course, negatively painted in the media).
After almost being shut down, the show went on – leading to this
year’s Forest Fest 4, which is trying to reach 1,000 attendees.
This year, Forest
Fest will be a two-day event featuring 26 bands and 3 DJs to perform
on 3 separate stages. With the growing attendance, Forest Fest moved
to Center for Symbolic Studies in New Paltz, NY and unlike other
years, has a designated camping area – as well as – a separate
performance area. Accompanying the music will be fire dancers, a
hookah tent, t-shirt painting, food and alcohol, and various other
vendors.
One of the many Forest Fest organizers,
Jonathan Bartz, stated: “The festival has
come along way and continues to grow. The amount of talent and
creative energy involved from artists and volunteers is overwhelming.
We know we are doing good for the community, giving artists/musicians
exposure and I am personally proud to have been involved.”
Tickets are still
on sale and are $20 at the door. For the full lineup and more
information, check out: www.forestfest.us
