An hour north of Gainesville, tucked down a road off Interstate 10, there is a campground draped in Spanish moss, covered in horse hooves and home to one of Florida’s outdoor music festivals.
The Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park & Campground in Live Oak is hosting its sixth Bear Creek Festival today through Sunday. Thousands of people will flock onto the 800-acre campground, and more than 60 funk and dance bands will perform on the various stages.
“We make people want to shake their asses,” director Paul Levine said.
Attendees are encouraged to camp out, Levine said. Campers will have access to five shower houses, 800 RV hookups and shade from the low-hanging oak trees.
“The music is part of the experience,” Levine said, “but also being outside and enjoying nature.”
There are wedding chapels if a love connection sparks in the close-quartered tents — which Levine said has happened before.
However, if camping is too rugged, Holiday Inn, Best Western and EconoLodge are right off I-10.
Aside from the music, activities are planned around the campground, Levine said.
Festival attendees can participate in a disc golf tournament and food drive to benefit Love INC of Suwannee County, which aids Live Oak residents affected by Tropical Storm Debbie, he said. A charity auction will support Suwannee Spirit Kids Music Camps.
Attendees can also dance at silent discos, go swimming in the Suwannee River, watch visual artists create in the live art gallery and eat from a spectrum of food options.
Vendors will provide cuisine choices from Chinese to Greek to “the lobster roll guy,” Levine said. And in the spirit of camping, people can bring their own food, too.
Bands are scheduled to start at 11 a.m. and end at 3 a.m., according to the website’s schedule.
Lotus, an electronic jazz-fusion group, is one of the headliners.
The band’s bassist, Jesse Miller, described its live performance as very energetic.
“The crowd is always really getting down,” Miller, 33, said. “People dance or just respond physically.”
Lotus, which will perform Friday at midnight during the festival, was founded in 2001 at Goshen College in Indiana, and is made up of Jesse’s brother, Luke Miller, on guitar and keys; Mike Greenfield on drums; Chuck Morris on percussion; and Mike Rempel on guitar.
Eleven years later, the band has performed at festivals all over the country, been signed by Colorado-based SCI Fidelity Records and recorded multiple albums and EPs, most recently its self-titled album. The band’s sound has changed with each album.
“We try to avoid the trappings of genre,” said Miller, who, along with his brother, writes many of the songs. “We’re very much a rock band, taking influence from electronic music, from instrumental rock, from experimental things and try to blend it into something uniquely Lotus.”
Lotus primarily writes and performs instrumental songs, Miller said, which leaves room for interpretation through the music, not the lyrics.
“It’s much more abstract than topical,” he said. “If it’s instrumental, the only kind of labeling you’re giving something is a song name.”
The Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park is familiar to Lotus, which appeared at Bear Creek Festival in 2009 and Wanee Festival, sponsored by the Allman Brothers Band, in 2011.
“That was interesting to see,” Miller said of Wanee Festival, where Lotus stood out as the band with a lot of synthesizers and gear.
“There were these Southern guys in the back with their arms crossed, and we start bopping around,” he said. “By the end of the set, everyone was getting into it.”
Next year, the band will tour the country, including many appearances in Florida, he said.
For now, Miller said, the band looks forward to going back to Bear Creek Festival after being off the road most of fall.
Miller said the festival serves as a reunion where musicians collaborate and catch up, mentioning Umphrey’s McGee, another headlining band that came out of Lotus’ region in Indiana.
Levine agreed, referencing Bear Creek’s relaxed environment as a catalyst for networking.
“More unique musical collaborations happen at Bear Creek than anywhere,” he said.
Weekend passes, which include camping, are $185, and tonight’s pre-party tickets are $50.
Until the festival begins tonight, Levine is preparing Spirit of the Suwannee for the influx of people, and the bands are gearing up for three days of playing music, dancing to music and feeling the music.
“I think music is a language that’s deeper than spoken language,” Miller said, “and something that people really connect to and feel.”
Lotus, an electronic jazz-fusion group, is one of the headline bands for this year’s Bear Creek Festival in Live Oak. Weekend passes, which include camping, cost $185.
