On a weekend when thousands of Gator fans flocked to Jacksonville for the Florida-Georgia football game, the streets of Gainesville were unusually crowded.
Cars with license plates from Indiana, Massachusetts, California and beyond filled nearly all of downtown's parking spots.
The Fest, Gainesville's annual punk rock showcase, summoned music lovers from across the world on Friday, Saturday and Sunday for the seventh year.
More than 250 bands performed at 10 local venues this year, with each band's set ranging from about 20 to 40 minutes.
Gareth Akehurst, 19, flew from England to Orlando, rented a car and drove to Gainesville for the weekend festival.
Akehurst came to see Less Than Jake and Rehasher, a band that hasn't performed since September 2005, according to its Web site.
He said he is "much obliged" to come next year.
"It's cheaper for me to come over here than to go to a load of shows back in the U.K.," he said.
Unlike Akehurst, Eric Grossman, a guitarist for Chicago-based punk-rock band The Brokedowns, spent more money than he intended.
"I came here with $100, and I spent $40 on drinks the first night," he said. "But we came here to have a f-ing great time, and we did."
For Austin Lucas, an Indiana-based bluegrass artist who performed at Common Grounds on Sunday, the event is about more than having a good time.
"It's the family feeling," Lucas said, adding that since he's lived in Europe for the past five years, playing The Fest has allowed him to see old friends.
"Last year, my first time playing The Fest, all I did was bounce around like a human pinball between people I hadn't seen between 10 years and five years," he said.
"I left with a strong feeling like it was something I needed to do every year."
The massive influx of out-of-towners brought more than just 40-ounce beers and clouds of cigarette smoke to Gainesville.
At the downtown Five Star Pizza location, business was booming all weekend, store owner Matt Funk said. Funk expected it to be a quiet weekend because football fans were out of town.
Instead, the 24-hour pizza restaurant was swamped with customers.
Because of the football game, many Five Star employees requested not to work. The restaurant remained understaffed while the store sold hundreds of pizzas over the course of the weekend to hungry Fest attendees.
The same held true at Gator Dawgs, where owner Otis Britton sold about 500 vegetarian hot dogs this weekend. This weekend alone raked in triple the amount of business than the entirety of last week, Britton said.
"It was way better than a football game weekend," he said.
