Camp Euforia expands its festival
"Dance on Your Head"
Several years ago, local band Euforquestra, now based in Colorado, started Camp Euforia as a one-night event. It was so popular that the group began adding more music to the festival, and soon, it became a two-day event.
Camp Euforia will take place Friday and Saturday on Yacht Club patron Jerry Hotz’s farm, 5335 Utah Ave S.E., near Lone Tree. Gates will open at noon on Friday, and the event will continue through Saturday night. This year’s lineup includes performances by Kyle Hollingsworth, EOTO, and Heatbox, among others.
“Last year was my first time [playing the festival], and they let me play both nights, late into the night,” Aaron “Heatbox” Heaton said. “I ended up meeting some new people and hanging out, and it felt like a tight community for a couple of days.”
Main coordinator and keyboardist Eric Quiner, who recently left Euforquestra and moved back to Iowa City, said this year, the event’s planners have focused more on being family friendly and also have added more non-music activities.
“We are updating a lot more of the infrastructure stuff,” he said. “We have more vendors and more safety precautions being taken this year.”
The non-music activities for Camp Euforia go beyond buying a product or eating greasy food.
“We’re going to have some workshops and yoga classes,” Quiner said. “On Saturday morning, we always have coffee with the Grossos, and it will play its family-friendly songs.”
The Grosso Family Band has played Americana music around Chicago for two decades. The group features the family of Euforquestra drummer Adam Grosso. This will be the fifth time for the band to play at Camp Euforia.
Public Property frontman David Bess loves the festival’s local focus, and he said it brings “some of Iowa City’s best local music.” Along with these local bands are some national touring acts some fans may not know.
“[The coordinators] definitely bring acts to Iowa City that [residents] are not super-familiar with,” he said. “Then they become familiar with them, which is cool.”
With all the music and activities going on, many people are volunteering at Camp Euforia so the festival can happen. These volunteers do everything from picking up garbage, building the stages, keeping the peace, parking, running the medical tent, and more.
Volunteer coordinator Gara Locket, who has worked for Camp Euforia for five years, said the event has more volunteers this year than ever.
“When I started, we had 20 volunteers,” she said. “This year, we have almost 100.”
Greg Wickemkamp said he’s helped out with the parking for the past couple years but now is a volunteer coordinator assistant.
“It takes a lot of volunteers to make something this magical happen.” he said.
With everything going on during the festival, Wickemkamp said, fans experience a sense of community only found in small camping music festivals.
“It’s a wonderful thing,” he said. “At the small festival, you’re so connected with everyone and everything going on.”
Euforquestra saxophonist Ryan Jeter said the band loves to pick the musicians who play at the festival.
“A lot of the times, it ends up being bands we get close to on the road,” he said. “Two of the bands this year are from Colorado, near where we live. So that’s a treat for us to have them come and play for everybody in Iowa City.”
The bands Jeter is referring to are Mountain Standard Time and Juno What!?. Both will play at a special pre-festival party tonight at the Yacht Club, 13 S. Linn St., along with local rock-band Dead Larry, which will also play at Camp Euforia.
Joe Scarlepino, the Dead Larry bassist, said he’s excited about the pre-party.
“If people work or can’t afford to go [to the actual festival], they can come to the pre-party and get a taste of the event,” he said.
The Yacht Club has worked with Camp Euforia for some time. Not only does it sponsor the side stage, it also provides a full bar at the festival so guests can have some drinks.
This year Camp Euforia will be bigger and potentially better than ever. With its musical lineup and other activities, coordinators said audience members will have plenty to do.
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