Pat Lavery has done it all. He has played a prominent role in Gainesville's music scene since the late '90s, working his way up from going to shows and meeting bands to working at a local radio station to starting his own booking agency called Glory Days Booking.
"You just kind of stumble into it," Lavery said.
After spending a decade working with Gainesville music, he realized he wanted to do something bigger. He wanted to do something that would be a big deal in the Gainesville music scene.
That is why Lavery decided to produce Gainesville's only music, camping and arts festival known as The Real Big Deal, which will take place at the Alachua Country Fairgrounds on Sept. 13 and 14.
"This was kind of the logical next step," he said.
Lavery and his partner, Danielle Robinson, have been putting in almost 100 hours of work a week for the past three months to create the festival that will feature national acts such as Drive-By Truckers, Motion City Soundtrack and Mates of State, as well as local bands such as Morningbell, Umoja Orchestra and T13C.
"It's non-stop from the time we wake up to when we sleep," Robinson said.
"Then we have dreams about it," Lavery added.
The idea to bring a festival to Gainesville came to fruition when the two attended Langerado Music Festival in Big Cypress, Fla. They thought Gainesville was the perfect place for a big music festival since so many of its residents travel hours to attend other music festivals.
"We saw the potential of the fairgrounds, and we thought 'We can do it,'" Lavery said.
It took about five to six weeks to book all of the national acts, which was challenging because bands were reluctant to join the unknown festival's lineup.
"It's really about getting that first person signed on," he said. "It really snowballed from there."
Another challenging task for the duo has been "selling the concept" of the festival to locals, Lavery said.
"People aren't used to having this here, so they're having a hard time wrapping their heads around that it's real," he said.
Robinson and Lavery want everyone to enjoy The Real Big Deal festival because they booked a diverse lineup to meet everyone's preferences. Music lovers can enjoy the punk stylings of bands like Whole Wheat Bread, the hip hop beats of MC Chris, the funky bass of Soulphonics & Ruby Velle and the ska rhythms of Chupaskabra.
Lavery said he cannot wait for the finished product and to see "people embrace it."
The two expect thousands of people to attend. Several hundred people have already bought tickets. The event will feature two stages outside and two inside a pavilion. There will also be several food vendors, as well as camping sites inside the grounds.
Weekend passes are $53 in advance and $60 at the gate. Single day passes are $29 in advance and $35 at the gate.
Robinson said their main goal for the festival was to keep it unique to Gainesville by including several local and national bands.
"I feel like we have the caliber music festival that would be outside of Gainesville," Lavery said.
