Fox Fest ’14

Last spring, 91.5 WPRK FM and The Sandspur succeeded in creating an event like no other at Rollins College—Fox Fest ’13, a music and arts festival located in the heart of Rollins College on Mills Lawn. The event was created after 91.5 WPRK FM hosted a music festival in honor of their 60th anniversary the year before. Inspired by the bridge the event created to connect Rollins students with the local Winter Park and Orlando communities, The Sandspur and WPRK collaborated again to continue the progress with Fox Fest ’13.

Fox Fest ’13 represented the power of students coming together for a common purpose. “Rollins does not put on too many concerts and our job as student organizations involved in the arts is to bring some much needed musical flavor to campus,” says Drew Devito ’16, current station manager of WPRK. A Fox Fest committee of solely students was formed to somehow pull off organizing a music and arts festival, which sounds easier said than done. Students needed to cover all aspects of the project—establishing a solid lineup, jumping through hoops in paperwork, contacting local businesses for sponsorship, promoting the event, and much more. The project provided the invaluable “real world” experience that Rollins so heavily emphasizes to its students.

The hard work certainly was beneficial. The students secured the critically acclaimed band Bright Light Social Hour as the headliner, who went on to play Lollapalooza later that year, and attracted over a thousand people in attendance over the course of the day.

The Sandspur and WPRK hope to replicate the success again this year for Fox Fest ’14. “We really want this event to become a new tradition for Rollins that students look forward to, like Fox Day,” explains Devito ‘16. Part of WPRK’s mission is to present students with the latest cutting-edge music from local artists. “Having events that bring music of all kinds to Rollins students are so important. Musical events like Fox Fest help to expose students to a thriving Orlando music scene that they may not know exist,” he says.

Student Kelly Johnson ’16 hopes she gets to witness another Fox Fest. “It was unlike anything that I experienced before at Rollins,” she says about Fox Fest ’13. “To have such talented musicians playing in our backyard of sorts was really cool.”

The Sandspur and WPRK do not have the same budget as last year, but are working hard to get support from the local business community to assist them in creating something just as special for the Rollins community. Keep listening to 91.5 WPRK FM and reading The Sandspur for updates surrounding the festivities.