Evil Knievel is barreling towards me on his hog. The violent flames shooting from his twin spoilers are discordant with the stoicism of his expression. The pinball bangs around the bumpers and then collapses into the hole past the flippers. No worries. This game of pinball is free, along with 29 others in the Arcade at Firefly Music Festival. Behind me a geeky dude is killing it at DDR. A modest crowd has assembled to admire his skills and cheer him on. When his game is over, he wipes the sweat from his brow and bashfully looks up as they applaud.
This sense of camaraderie and fun permeates the entire festival. While on the switchback line at the entrance, festival attendees dole out high fives in greeting as they pass one another – completely leaving any memory of the three hour long line of traffic they just waited on to enter in the past. On the grounds they admire each other’s tattoos – both glitter and ink, discuss other festivals and upcoming acts, and offer protips for navigating these four days with relative ease. At shows, strangers gather for group selfies, guys proffer their shoulders to girls for rides and everyone lifts their hands to help a crowd surfer complete their unchartered course. Meanwhile, groups of friends cluster around with easily spotted picket signs of pop culture icons: Larry David, Bob Saget, Nicholas Cage, Tina from Bob’s Burgers, Tyrone Biggum’s from Chappelle’s Show to name a few. One guy proudly shows off a hand painted sign of Hodor from GoT. Good vibes here, for sure, and no lack of originality in self-expression. Back at the camp site in Lot 1 the crowd is diverse. Dudes in “Let’s Get Weird” tank tops spiral footballs through the air and toss corn hole bags; on a tapestry in the neighboring camp site, a licensed instructor leads a yoga session; two industrious guys travel from plot to plot tugging along a Radioflyer wagon carrying the fixings for $5 Bloody Marys; at night, a group sits in a circle near the charging station geeking out about Sherlock and Dr Who (no spoilers!) since the station is deserted during the main acts.
Roughly a ten minute walk away from Lot 1 is The Hub. During the early morning hours you will find a steady stream of people toting toiletries in and out of paid showers. Silver nozzles dangle from a deserted Camelbak water refilling station. Though this one is quickly accessed, there are four of these staffed oases located within the festival grounds that can be upwards of a 15 minute wait. A Bear Claw Coffee food truck is there to satisfy that caffeine fix, and a pop-up Walgreens sells bug spray, toiletries, ice and simple camping gear. A Garnier Fructis tent gives out handfuls of hair care samples and offers free hair washes, stylings and root touch-ups. The chicks from Lucius popped in for matching blue / blonde ombré treatments before their set on the Lawn Stage. The food vendors within the festival are nothing to write poetry in the woods about. There are vegan and vegatarian options, the food isn’t deep fried and it will sustain life. A Kriff Dogs food truck from BK was there the first night, but only accessible to those with a VIP pass. A cluster of vendies near The Arcade sell typical festie wear. One that stood out was The Local Branch, a San Francisco based company specializing in functional leather holsters and tasteful clothing with hand-drawn designs of elk, buffalo, arrowheads and other American tribal motifs. The company is co-owned by Blane and Mackenzie who, through Kickstarter crowd funding, were able to convert an Airstream trailer into a mobile studio. They travel throughout the Unites States and each clothing piece is furnished with a tag telling where it was hand printed.
There are seven stages located throughout the sprawling grounds of the festival. The Backyard seemed to be the favorite of most. Formerly the main stage, it overlooks a green patterned hot air balloon that bobbed up and down all four days while a canister of flames intermittently kept it aloft. Big Gigantic’s closer here on Sunday was transcendental: every bass drop saw thousands of glow sticks launched in the air and security agents hustled in the barricade to gently receive myriad crowd surfers. The new main stage is a trek from here and its massive size is dwarfed only by the Dover Downs Nascar racetrack across the road. A staggering sea of people amassed here Friday to see the Foo Fighters, which according to the Firefly Music App was the most scheduled and most liked. The Big Break stage offered a more intimate setting. On Friday a polite crowd clustered here to watch natives of Delaware Mean Lady’s set. The Coffeehouse was similarly tranquil. Iron & Wine performed an acoustic set there following a massive show at the main stage. Schlepping to and from each venue was somewhat of a task, but the foot traffic flowed smoothly and places like the Hammock Hangout outfitted by SOCO Hammocks of Austin, TX provided a quiet grove in which to kick back and decompress. On the last day of the festival, a beer hall sponsored by Dogfish Head Brewery hosted the World Cup soccer game. There were no lines for beer as those appareled in American flag garb gripped IPAs and specially craft brewed Firefly Ale and gathered around 10 of the 50″ flat screens. The Fire Marshall stood at the entrance to maintain a safe head count and spectators waiting to enter pressed their noses against the vinyl windows of the tent and watched anxiously as the US played Portugal. Luckily for those who couldn’t get in, the game was screened an hour later at the Main Stage following the Lumineers’s set.
Monday morning dusty caravans convene at the Wawa down the highway from the festival grounds to fill up on gas and snag some breakfast grub for the road. Cars idling in the parking lot have ‘Firefly 2014’ traced in the film on their rear windows. Festival goers wearily mill about inside, opening and closing cooler doors, placing orders at the hot bar and patiently waiting, oversized coffees in hand, as others ahead of them fumble with single serve half-and-half containers, sugar packets and swizzle sticks. Around the sink in the bathroom, a group of chicks compare filthy feet and muse about the overlooked luxury of running water as they wash their hands. At checkout, wide-eyed cashiers curiously inquire about the festival and express interest in attending – if only for a day – next year.