On Friday starting at 5pm, the AthFest Music and Arts Festival will kick off, bringing back a club crawl for its 25th anniversary.
The annual festival will last from Friday through Sunday night, bringing artists and musicians based in Athens and from across Georgia and the Southeast to what AthFest performer Cam Norton says is a captive audience for the arts.
“There’s an audience here that’s just hungry for music— they want to go, they want to dance, they want to party and they want to have a good time,” Norton said.
This year, the AthFest club crawl is coming back for the first time since the pandemic. Attendees can purchase a $25 wristband to gain access to all 10 participating venues.
The event is also a fundraiser for the AthFest Educates nonprofit, who provide grants to Athens educators.
“We support high quality music and arts education for K-12 students in Athens-Clarke County,” Joyce said.
That’s Mary Joyce, the Executive Director of the group.
“Everything that you do at AthFest is supporting the next generation of musicians and artists in our community,” Joyce said.
Festival goers should also be aware that this year, no vendors will be accepting cash.
Visit athfest.com for more event details and check out wuga.org to hear Katie Tucker’s coverage of how the bands have been preparing for the event.