This weekend, The Jam will be transformed into an interactive music festival.
Over Easy Fest is an electronic dance music festival complete with $50,000 lighting equipment, 3-D art installations and an array of food trucks, said Les Voss, the owner of Over Easy Creative, the company hosting the festival. The festival aims to incorporate a variety of artists and art forms. More than 15 jam and electronic artists will play on two stages from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. Saturday through Sunday at The Jam.
The Jam’s owner, Blake Briand, 37, said 200 to 300 people show up for this festival. Tickets will be $10 before 7 p.m. at the door and $15 after, said Voss.
"They’re usually really big events," he said.
Briand, who got his start at The Jam three years ago, is always open to trying different events.
"I will kind of try anything once," he said.
Over Easy Fest got its start when Briand took a chance on hosting 300 college students who wanted a fun place to experience music, a year and a half ago. It was a hit from the very beginning.
"It’s worked every time," Briand said.
Over Easy Fest is a high-level production thanks to Gator Sound and Lighting. The show will feature 3-D projection mapping, lasers and quality lighting, Briand said.
"It’s very colorful," he said.
Because the show has been popular from the beginning, there hasn’t been a lot of room to grow.
"The growth has been pretty moderate," Briand said.
Briand works closely with Voss, the creator of Over Easy Fest.
"He’s great to work with," said Briand about Voss. "He’s become a buddy of mine."
Voss, 23, is currently taking a break from studying event management at UF to run his business, Over Easy Creative.
"I like the idea of using an event, a venue, as a blank canvas," Voss said.
Voss said one of his friends who helped him start the business thought up the name when they were talking one day, and he stuck with it.
Voss was a promotional event coordinator before he started his business. He founded Over Easy Creative after being unsatisfied with his job as a promoter.
"Promotion is just kind of using people and it’s bullshit," he said.
Instead, Over Easy Creative intends to weave art into an experience that demands all of your senses.
"We have this idea that everything is art," Voss said.
The festival starts early and ends late to cater to different activities, from practicing yoga to multiple bars with Swamp Head Brewery beer on tap.
Voss teams with UF art students to engage crowds with art ranging from painting to welding to lighting.
"All of the sudden, it’s lit up in a way that’s just kind of magical," Voss said about the event.
A team of 15 imaginative people put on Over Easy Fest. Although the show is high quality, Voss’ organization isn’t strict like other businesses.
"We’re not a very serious company," he said.
The festival will also implement unique activities like a bounce house with carbon-dioxide-blasting equipment, creating a cold fog.
"We just let our events speak for ourselves," Voss said.
Voss is looking into expanding Over Easy Fest. He wants to extend to Orlando, Jacksonville, Tallahassee and Miami. But he doesn’t want to lose the laid-back vibe that this festival emanates.
"We don’t want to be an Ultra or a TomorrowWorld," Voss said.
Instead, Voss is committed to creating a festival that feels like home.
"When you get there and you see it and you feel it, you just understand," he said.
Voss works on creating an experience before handpicking talented artists to perform. The talent that he does choose might not be the most well-known, but their music is good.
"It’s not how much the headliners costs, it’s how good their music is that matters," he said.
He wants to set his events apart from the typical Midtown crowd.
"We’re putting that human aspect back into music and events," he said.
