One of our favorite music festivals, The Electric Forest, just happened over the last two weekends in Western Michigan. Nearly 300 musical acts took to multiple stages over the course of the festival and 50,000 campers/attendees poured into “Sherwood Forest” to enjoy all the craziness. But it isn’t all fun and games. For the workers and organizers behind the festival, it’s the hardest working few weeks of the year.
Cat Footwear outfitted a team of Earthmoving stage builders with all new boots and shoes before the big undertaking. We checked in with them last week to see how it all had gone down.
Okay, so tell us a little bit about your team?
I work on a team known as “The Sturgis Crew”. It’s a bunch of talented builders/artists from Sturgis, MI.
How long have you all been working the festival?
We’ve been building at Electric Forest for over 6 years now. The Sturgis Crew works for a guy named Bill Potvin AKA “Dola Bill”, though, who’s been in charge of Reincarnation Village (a section of the Sherwood Forest) since the festival first started. We also work with a bunch of gypsy festival builders that work festivals full time.
So which stage did you guys build?
We built the Forest Stage.
What kind of acts played there?
Forest stage had a bunch of djs and EDM music. Lot of dancing going on.
Tell us a little about the boots and shoes that you all picked out?
Some of us wanted full on work boots so they opted for Granger with a steel toe. Comfort and safety, but they also look pretty bad ass in black. A bunch of us, though, wanted a little lighter work shoe since we’re moving around so much. Some picked out Expedient, Chromatic, and Flex, since they’ve got sort’ve a sneaker look but with a composite toe. And then one of us grabbed Argon for that classic work shoe look.
Did any of you check out the festival? Any highlights?
Of course! During the build weekends we’re regularly putting in 12-15+ hour days… but it’s a work hard play hard type agreement. So once the festival starts we’re there to party! Highlights, man, it’s one big highlight really. Everyone on our build crew loves music but we all have our own preferences. String Cheese Incident always puts on a great show. This year I was really digging FKJ and Michigan favorites Vox Vidorra. But, honestly, the main highlight is just getting to spend time with all your favorite weirdos!
Photo Credit Electric Forest
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