The Daily Beast: “It’s become something of a rite of passage for punk rock bands across North America to load up their vans and drive down to Florida every October to play The Fest, a long-running independent punk music festival in the quaint landlocked college town of Gainesville. Attendees and performers fly from around the world for the weekend bash, now in its 21st year, to reunite with Fest friends, mosh, and guzzle Pabst Blue Ribbon. Decidedly more small-time and community-based than bigger punk blowouts like Riot Fest or Punk Rock Bowling, Fest has cultivated a reputation as a safe, inclusive event where homophobia, transphobia, racism, and other prejudices are shut down by a crowd of progressive punks….
DeSantis’ legislative assault on LGBTQ+ people in Florida has prompted conversations among diehard Fest fans, and especially queer and trans attendees and performers who, like Fureigh, began to question if they’d be safe there. People began to ask: Will the Fest go on? Should it go on?
Pondering those questions with The Daily Beast, Fest founder Tony Weinbender said that on social media people pressed him about canceling or moving the festival. Ultimately, though, neither option was ever on the table for him.
“Why wouldn’t we do an event where you can bring thousands of people that oppose bills like this?” Weinbender says. “The point is you’re supposed to try to fight these bills.””