The season of music festivals is rapidly beginning, starting off with the famous, beloved, bohemian dream that is Coachella. After Coachella, there will be a different festival every weekend on every corner of the globe: from Glastonbury to Bonnaroo, attending festivals has become an entire culture. Music festivals are no longer solely about the music, but are about the fashion, the food, and every other non-music related activity there is to be done. Each year the spring and summer seasons are merged and dedicated to the new fleeting fashion trends, the advanced food that is now so much more than corn dogs and funnel cakes, and the bigger and better carnival-esque attractions that are becoming just as anticipated as what the line-up will be this year. This flower crown, Ferris wheel, hipster-loving movement has even made its way up to good ol’ Northern California, planting its roots and blessing NorCal with a diverse taste of this new-found way of life.

With one for every audience, festivals are no longer a hassle to attend, and students have even gone to more than one in the past few years.

Junior Cameryn Gage is one of the many who have been to a few of the local lineups, and she decided to share which festival is her favorite and why she adores the event so much.

“I’ve been to Outside Lands and I’ve been to Vans Warped Tour for four years now. The thing that I really like about them is that people from literally all over come together for this one reason: music. It’s just a really awesome thing because there is so much unity [there]. With Warped Tour there is a lot of punk rock and heavy metal, so there are things like mosh pits and crowd surfing. People do get hurt, but at the end of the day there is so much unity. The number one rule for any rock show is that if someone falls or gets hurt, you help them. I really like that mentality, and that’s one of my personal favorite things about going to concerts. There is such a community; even though it is a community of strangers, it is a community nonetheless,” said Gage.

Gage isn’t alone in her feelings about music festivals; junior Trevar Behrens has also attended a variety of shows. He enjoys the community environment as well as other festival experiences.

“I’ve been to SnowGlobe [an EDM (electronic dance music) festival in Lake Tahoe] two years in a row, and last summer went to Outside Lands. Overall, SnowGlobe 2016 was by far my most favorite festival. Besides music, I like that at festivals everybody is so friendly and kind to one another. Also, the props and set up of the festival is always entertaining and visually pleasing,” said Behrens.

While Behrens and Gage are both traditionalists in the sense that that they attend festivals first and foremost for the music and the people, Gage has also developed a liking toward the fashion aspect of event. As much as she loves the music, Gage explained that her other favorite aspect of festivals is the appearance of her fellow festival goers.

“The fashion and the makeup is always really interesting to see. You expect things like that from Coachella, [but] with Warped Tour it’s interesting because it is a similar sort of fashion inspiration but it’s blacker and a little more edgy. I’m always really excited to see the makeup because you see so many different things. You could see people without eyebrows or with pink contour with black lipstick. It’s a really fun thing to see; I love creepy makeup like that,” said Gage.

Music was the origin of these festivals, but the festivals have evolved into so much more. Attending a music festival has been transformed from a simple affair to a series of events that claim their own season. Artists even have to share the stage this year, as a variety of lineups now include comedians and comics. The evolution of music festivals has now created a festival for everyone and the Bay Area has caught on. They have created events that please every audience; from country to pop, comedians to old school, rap to alternative, there is now a local lineup suited just for everyone.