THE WHO

A Crowd Favorite Festival That Ran for A Decade. 

Independents’ Day Festival ran for 10 years and quickly became one of the city’s top picks as a great end to the summer festival season. After putting together some hip-hop shows in 2014, an ID Fest organizer approached founder, Josh Miller, to help book some more hip-hop to assist in representing all of the genres of music being created in Columbus. What started as just a little spot with a DJ, a 4’x8′ art panel, and some emcees in 2014, allowed for Josh to be the leader of an entire area/zone by 2016. Zone Commanders came up with their own theme and decided on what type of music would be booked on the stage. This was an opportunity to bring more than the usual hip-hop performances on stage.

THE CONCEPT

Bringing The Vibe Of New York City In The 80’s To Columbus.

We’ve been watching movies from the 70’s and 80’s that looks at New York City during those times. Everything from The Warriors to the classic documentary, Style Wars, helped play a part in inspiring our zone at ID Fest. We wanted to showcase the era where hip-hop and punk rock were born in and to turn the whole space into the feeling of a subway complete with actual subway cars and even street performers sprinkled around the area.

THE EXECUTION

A Mash-Up Of The Underground.

We were able to collaborate with Orange Barrel Media to create large subway cars for graffiti writers to paint throughout the weekend that we named “OBM | Orange Barrel Metro” and the Orange Line of cars ran through the alley where we were stationed. Street performers like beatboxers, trumpet players, and drummers, provided a little glimpse of what was to come on your way to the stage and experiences like the Columbus Dispatch News Stand, Bodega Merch Booth, and more brought everything together. In addition to the visual impact of the area, underground hip-hop, punk, and hardcore bands were woven throughout both days and a bboy battle happened as well.

THE NUMBERS

20

Acts Performing On Stage

10

Artists painting live

1

Awesome weekend

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