Our day-to-day lives are filled with divisive choices: Library West or Marston Science Library? Midtown or downtown? Each choice, while seemingly innocuous, comes with its own set of die-hard advocates that keep these meaningless rivalries alive.
As we reflect on this past weekend, it only seems fitting to address the rivalry that characterized Friday through Sunday. No, I’m not alluding to some harmless football competition. I’m talking about The Fest versus the Florida-Georgia game.
Let me start off by saying I came to Gainesville with absolutely no preconceived notions about either of these events or how deeply rooted this rivalry was for a lot of people. I could never forget my first time witnessing the darkly clothed hordes migrating down University Avenue, and the comments I heard later that day from friends who said Fest was some sort of "like, weird hipster thing." The way people talked about it made it sound like a secret punk takeover that occurred while countless UF students fled to Jacksonville for the Florida-Georgia game.
More recently, I gained some perspective from close friends who have actually attended Fest instead of fleeing at the first sight of combat boots. I hadn’t realized how massive the actual event was, drawing more than 10,000 people and around 400 bands to our humble college town. I also was previously unaware that the majority of Fest attendees come from out of state, which, considering Gainesville’s current less-than-ideal music scene, was immensely impressive.
This year, I was forced to make a choice. Where would I stand in the Fest versus Florida-Georgia matchup? A lot of factors were at play, including my apathy toward any and all sports, an unavoidable desire to see Title Fight live, invitations to visit friends in Jacksonville and the hype that inevitably accompanies "The World’s Largest Cocktail Party." In the end, Florida-Georgia won over. As I left Gainesville on Friday afternoon and drove past the mass migration toward downtown, I wondered why these two events had to be mutually exclusive.
In retrospect, I found these occasions actually have a lot in common, if my own experience in Jacksonville and the second-hand accounts I received from Fest-attending friends are anything to go by.
First, both are prime spots for people-watching. With the rainbow of both football and underground music fans running rampant through the streets, it’s only a short amount of time before you see a large 60-year-old man in a Gator crop top (like I did) or perhaps someone sporting an animal skull as an accessory.
Also, people are just in a better mood. Maybe you like watching grown men tackle each other. Maybe you like to mosh. Whatever it is, these special occasions foster a citywide good mood that only dissipates with the end of the weekend and a begrudging return to normalcy.
Finally, both Fest and the Florida-Georgia game have become a beloved tradition that comes with an anticipated array of hardcore fans.
We’re all just trying to have some fun with our friends and momentarily forget our responsibilities, so the imagined rift between these two events really is founded on nothing. Despite having a mostly good time in Jacksonville, I really wish I hadn’t been forced to choose one over the other. This divisive mentality is at the center of the rivalry and will most likely persist into the foreseeable future.
But, on the bright side, there’s always next year for me to cast my arbitrary allegiance to one or the other.
Marisa Papenfuss is a UF English junior. Her column appears on Tuesdays.
