The Waterbowl transformed into a village of tents, campfires, drum circles and live music the past weekend as more than 1,200 people across the Midwest flocked to Springfest 2009.
Tents sprung up by the dozens Friday and stayed through Sunday morning. Vendors selling handcrafted tie-dye T-shirts, beads, hemp necklaces, skirts and hats lined the concrete around the two stages.
Fourteen bands from around the Midwest playing a variety of genres performed on two stages at different times throughout the weekend. As the bands played, crowd members danced by themselves, others with glow sticks and fire.
Most sat on blankets, soaking up the sounds.
"I had a great time, there's a lot of good energy here and it's a beautiful place and I just want to enjoy myself to the fullest," Rachel Nissen, a Chicago warehouse worker and fire dancer said. "I enjoy coming to the Waterbowl."
After the bands finished playing each night, the sounds of thumping dijimbes, congos, acoustic guitars and boomboxes rang across the campground until the sun came up.
The weekend ended and the after party started with a performance by Muncie locals 8 Stories High, who played for more than two hours on the small stage.
Before finishing their set, the band gave a shout out to Nick Armogida, the man who helped make it possible.
Behind the Stage
The junior advertising major has not had a conversation since December that didn't include the words "Springfest."
He has been working tirelessly the past few months to organize the festival, he said, which is his biggest project to date.
He took out a $2,000 student loan, received a $1,000 sponsorship from Toyota and a few hundred dollars from other various companies to pay for the project.
He relied on ticket sales to finance the remainder of the $10,000 budget.
Organizing a festival is intense, Armogida said.
He was in charge of everything from gathering sponsors to making band contracts to setting up presentations for potential vendors.
He wasn't alone in this endeavor, though.
His friend Kelsey Ransom helped with public relations and vending, his friend Kim Gillenwater designed the fliers, tickets and T-shirts and James Nimmer, organizer of Wuhnurth, also helped with public relations.
"To put this thing together it takes a lot of hard work and dedication," Ransom said. "You have to really want and have the passion to create local music and have environmental things go on throughout the event."
Despite the event's success, Armogida remains humble.
"There are hundreds of people who have helped me out in little ways," Armogida said. "Anybody that has in any way contributed to this festival, I couldn't do it without them."
Origin
The festival's origin lay in two festivals that took place last year, Live at the Waterbowl and Springfest '08.
Armogida organized Live at the Waterbowl and Nimmer put together Springfest '08.
When Nimmer decided to focus on Wuhnurth last fall, Armogida suggested he take over Springfest.
Armogida marketed Live at the Waterbowl through a Facebook group. He spent only $1,000 and expected 100 people to show up.
More than 400 people attended Live at the Waterbowl.
He said he was surprised by the response.
"It kind of hit me, 'Wow this is kind of a cool thing,'" Armogida said. "This year I wanted to do something with that, I wanted it to be more than a party."
The Messages
The organizers of Springfest had three goals for the festival: to increase energy awareness, advocate cross cultural acceptance and promote independent artists and musicians.
When it came to raising energy awareness, Armogida said he was influenced by something Thomas Friedman said when he spoke at Ball State in March.
"He basically said when times get tough, there are two things you can do," Armogida said. "Some people say 'Let's party!' other people say 'alright, let's get down to business, let's organize and do some hard work."
Armogida wanted Springfest to be a fun time and remain dedicated to raising awareness.
He set up a contest for his street team called "Chalk Across America" to help cut the waste that goes into making fliers and posters.
For a festival like Springfest, promoters would usually print between 5,000 to 7,000 handbills and 3,000 to 5,000 posters.
For "Chalk Across America," Armogida had his street team use chalk art as advertisements.
Chalk advertisements for Springfest appeared in Chicago, Muncie, Bloomington, Indianapolis, Batesville, Cincinnati and cities in Michigan.
Only 1,000 handbills and 511 posters were printed.
Blue recycling bags were at the event and for each bag filled, Scion of Muncie will plant a tree at the Waterbowl.
"We were encouraged to come out here because of our ultra-low emissions vehicles," Sean Kirsten, a sales representative for Scion of Muncie said. "This is a green event, all about giving back to the environment. We want to plant trees. We want to make the earth better and our generation is the one to do it."
Armogida wants people to come to an understanding and acceptance of different cultures.
Several pamphlets for gay rights, the Multicultural Center, the Black Student Association, the Asian Student Association and the Office of Victim Services were at the hilltop pavilion.
"We want to get people to realize that racism is still an issue today," Armogida said. "It's not how we used to think of it, it's not open anymore. It's a mind-set."
Committed to promoting independent music, every band at Springfest was either unsigned or on an independent label.
Having a few friends in bands, Armogida ended up working with the promotion company FM Music who books bands for Doc's Music Hall.
Max FM, Muncie's classic rock station has allowed Doc's to have a radio show every Monday from 10 p.m. to midnight.
The station brings on indie bands, interviews them and puts their music out there.
"I know before I came to college I thought there was the stuff you heard on the radio and then there was crappy cover bands that played bars," Armogida said. "I really had no idea that there was an underground music like it is and it has the following that it does."
Vehicle for social change
Armogida sees music as the universal language.
"No matter what culture you're a part of, since nearly the dawn of man, there's been music," Armogida said. "It's got a way of inspiring emotion, it's its own language, it carries meaning. I don't know anyone that can't be touched by music."
He and others see music as a great medium to bring people together and accomplish things.
"Music has always been something that brought people together," Jack Ramsey, vocalist and guitarist for 8 Stories High, said. "It's just a lot easier when you're trying to do something like a green event, trying to get everybody to get together and do something positive.
The concert that changed Armogida's life was Rodger Waters, he said.
One song by Waters, "Leaving Beirut", resonated deeply with him.
The song is about Waters' hitchhiking excursion through Lebanon and his stay with a kind family in the Middle East who changed his view of the area.
"We have so much stuff based in nationalism and pride for our country but cultures don't include everybody," Armogida said. "It's not what the people, the individuals really stand for. I think we don't see that a lot of times, but there's good people everywhere."
Beyond the Stage
Armogida grew up in a Christian family and was taught to truly care about people, he said.
"Jesus' whole message was 'Look, love everybody,'" Armogida said. "We're all going to screw up at some point but we're just trying to make it through life."
He said he doesn't want to work for a big advertising firm or have no say in who he advertises for. He wants to promote things he loves and thinks are right.
Apathy, Armogida said, is one of the worst problems with his generation.
"All the people that complain about the laws and things wrong with society, myself included, how many letters have they sent to their congressman?" Armogida said. "Have they even told them what they want? Or do they just sit at home and complain with everybody else?"
Above all, he advocates action and participation.
"If we can get behind it and do things like this, maybe we'll finally have a democracy where people can voice their opinions instead of silently complaining about them," Armogida said.
He said good people are defined by how much they care about the person next to them. People need to be raised to take care of one another, he said.
"Through that people will buy merchandise, people will perform services and they will trade for them and it will stimulate the economy," Armogida said. "But instead of being worried about the money we are going to be worried about how well we take care of one another, which means that the products will be better because we are constantly looking for another way to help each other out."
The Future
Armogida wants to upgrade Springfest from a $10,000 event to a $20,000 or $40,000 event.
"I think we definitely built upon peoples' attitudes about loving one another, but I want to see more done," Armogida said. "I'm not satisfied with what we've got yet, but I think it's a hell of a first step in the right direction."
He wants to get the university involved, along with the international students, the women's studies program, the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management, the African-American groups and any other groups with unique ideas and cultures.
"I want this to be a huge cultural arts fair in Muncie, something that grows into the community to where it's a part of Muncie and brings in revenue," Armogida said. "I want it to be something that puts us on the map."
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