
Float Fest is the only festival in the world that combines the Texas tradition of floating the river with live music. The fifth annual summer music festival will take place on Saturday July 21 and Sunday July 22 in San Marcos, TX and will offer attendees a highly curated mix of alternative, rap, indie rock and EDM performers. This year, the Texas event will feature two main stages and offer fans a chance to catch every moment of main stage action with non-overlapping sets. Headliners, including Tame Impala, Bassnectar, Snoop Dogg, Modest Mouse, Run The Jewels, Cold War Kids and Lil Wayne, will close out the fest each night. Float Fest will also host popular local and regional bands to showcase their talent. Cold War Kids will replace Glass Animals who, due to unfortunate circumstances, had to cancel their appearance. The full music performance schedule and ticket information is available online. (Float Fest, 2018)
Float Fest also organizes a river cleanup project, Keep the River Clean, which includes cleaning up the river before, during and after the festival with divers and boats to ensure a safe and clean zone. They partner with local businesses such as Don’s Fish Camp, Texas State Tubes and The Eyes of the San Marcos River as well as local businesses, employees and volunteers to keep the river clean. The festival and partners will work together to encourage ways for guests to float responsibly, assist with trash pick-up and do a deep river clean up. Activities implemented include mesh biodegradable trash bags available for free with tubes for floating, River Wranglers on canoes to help take trash bags, trash receptacles available after tubing at shuttle pick up stations and the Float Fest crew cleaning up the river before, during and after the festival with divers and boats. Float Fest cleanup efforts this year brings more initiatives for an efficient clean up.
Additional festival efforts include:
- Cooler Checks at the tubing shuttle pick up tent. No glass or styrofoam is allowed on the river.
- Float Fest Staff will be at the river entrance to assist tubers into the river with their coolers, bags and additional items.
- Float Fest staff at the river exit taking tubers’ mesh bags and disposing in trash receptacles and providing them assistance as they exit the river.
- Two River Clean up stations will be set up along the float with 40 staff members to take trash from tubers as they float by. There will also be lifeguards at these stations.
- A “Human Net” just beyond the river exit consisting of 4 people will collect any remaining floating debris that might make it past the exit point.
- Top Water Clean ups via Kayaks and Canoes will assist on Saturday morning and evening, Sunday morning and evening and Monday morning and evening. Before, during and after the event.
- Kayak and Canoe Team will make regular trips all day Saturday and Sunday during the festival times into the evening on the river cleaning up trash and helping tubers as needed.
- Divers will do a river bottom clean up on Tuesday following the festival. They will focus on any remaining debris and anything that sunk to the river floor that might have been left behind.