Athfest 2011: EoA's Guide to Athfest: Intro

Can you believe it, guys? Athfest 2011, Athens' biggest celebration of music and the arts, starts this week! Need some tips on how to prepare for this rockin' festival?

Presenting...

Echoreyn of Athens' Guide to Athfest

What is Athfest?

Here's the lowdown on the festival for those new to this scene. More than 150 bands will fill our town with their tunes throughout the massive show which spans this entire weekend from late Friday afternoon through early Sunday evening. Two outdoor stages, which sit at the Washington St. intersections of Hull St. and Pulaski St., will feature band after awesome band throughout the daylight hours, and best of all, this part of the festival is completely free! Also, during the day, there will be shows and activities just for kids at Kidsfest which will take place at the Lumpkin St. intersection. Plus, there will be booths showing off some of the creations of Athens' talented artists lining the streets of the festival. At night, venues all over Athens will host unbelievable lineups of bands for the 18 and up (and sometimes 21 and up) crowd to rock out to provided they've purchased an Athfest wristband. Get one for yourself now for just $15 right here (or you can purchase one during the weekend for $20). For more general Athfest info, you can check out their official site here.

Athfest tidbits

Ok, now let's get to the fun stuff. Have you got an iPhone or iPod touch? If so, UGA's own New Media Institute (of which I'm a proud alumna and huge fan) created a mobile web-based app just for Athfest to help you pick which bands to see, make your own schedule, find your way around, and show your appreciation for the tunes. It's a free download straight from the iTunes store, and you can get it right here.

Remember those Flagpole Athens Music Awards predictions that Echoreyn of Athens and Athens Music Junkie made a few weeks ago? Well, it seems like we were pretty spot-on with our guesses! You can check out the top nominees in each category to see if your favorites made it to the list by picking up a copy of this week's Flagpole magazine or checking out page 14 of the PDF version over at Flagpole.com. And don't forget to make your way over to the Morton Theatre at 7:30 PM on Thursday evening for the big awards show!

We'll be posting even more Athfest info every day of this week including our picks for must-see shows and a list of things all music fans should remember to bring. Best of all, we'll be unveiling an exciting, brand new feature of our blog, just in time for the festival! To make sure you don't miss a single post, be sure to 'like' our page over on Facebook and tell your friends about Echoreyn of Athens too!