Around 600 eager concertgoers went to The Southern Brewing Company on Sunday to attend the Dawg Daze Music Festival, a festival organized by University of Georgia students as a part of the Music Business Certificate Program.
The festival featured 21 different local bands and artists, with Sarah Mootz, Jameson Tank, Josh Bennett Band and A.D. Blanco all headlining.
Two different stages were set up, both outside and inside of the brewery. Attendees began to enter the festival once the doors opened at 1:30 p.m. Throughout the day, the crowd size continued to grow, hitting its largest size around 6 p.m. The weather for the festival stayed sunny and warm for its entirety, which the crowd soaked in while enjoying the acts
A group of 10 student organizers from the program chose to put on the festival for an Emerging Issues in Music Business class project. The class is taught by David Barbe, the director of the Music Business Certificate Program. The group began planning the event in January.
The festival has been titled different names over the years, but this year it took on the name, Dawg Daze Music Festival. The profits for the festival go toward the Music Business Internship Fund for students doing unpaid internships to have money to sustain themselves.
Tatum Smith, a senior public relations major, was one of the 10 organizers for the festival and had the role of booking all of the artists.
“We have worked on it all semester and it’s probably the biggest project I have ever done,” Smith said. “We each had different roles, but we have also bounced around to help each other out with whatever we need.”
All 21 of the performers were affiliated to the Music Business Certificate program as a student, alumni or professor. The festival was used to showcase the talented musicians that are in or have come out of the program.
There was a large variety of performers at the festival with music in genres like hip-hop, indie rock, folk, rap and more. The performers also varied in experience as some were established names in Athens while others were more new to the scene.
Along with the live music, the festival also featured a merchandise table that offered posters and t-shirts designed by the organizers, as well as a raffle. There were also independent vendors, a food truck and the brewery’s bar for attendees to enjoy.
Transitions between performers worked seamlessly and the audience danced and cheered for each act. The energy for the festival was consistently high and never hit a dull moment throughout.
Junior communication studies major Ava Zegers took on a lead role with operations. She helped coordinate the event with The Southern Brewing Company and ran the festival’s social media.
“We were given the venue and that is all we got,” Zegers said. “We had to come up with the money, the performers and everything else, which has been awesome because it’s great experience for the future.”
Jackson Cherfoli, a senior public relations major, handled the promotional side of the event and had to reach out to local businesses to help sponsor the event.
“We are really fortunate because we got so much stuff for free or discounted because people are familiar with the program,” Cherfoli said.
The organizers were able to gain eight different sponsors for the festival and earned help in many ways from many local businesses.
“Athens is a great community for the music industry because everyone wants to help out, especially post-pandemic, where live music is kind of struggling,” Zegers said. “A lot of businesses are eager to help out as much as they can.”
Chris Young, a musician playing with Mootz, and Aidan Hill, a band member of lighthearted, both performed during the festival and stayed until the end to see the rest of the performers. They were both really impressed with how the event turned out and were glad to see some new artists perform.
“It’s great seeing a festival with so many new names. Everyone that was here was killer. Everyone sounded so good,” Young said “It’s nice to see that the Athens music scene is moving forward.”
The event wrapped up with A.D. Blanco’s performance. Then, Zegers got on stage for a closing farewell to the audience and the festival organizers began to pack up for the evening.
Some of the audience stuck around to talk among each other for a little while. Others congratulated the performers and the organizers. The festival became the highest grossing event that the MBUS program has ever held, according to Zegers.
“I'm really proud of it,” Zegers said. “It was really fun and incredibly fulfilling with all the work we put into it, for it to turn out so successful is really good to see.”
