Feature Photo Courtesy of Aaron Bradley
Just a few short weekends ago marked the 10th anniversary of The Spirit of Suwannee & The String Cheese Incident’s 10th Annual Suwannee Hulaween festival. As anyone would expect for a decade celebration, they did it bigger & better than ever before. We had the pleasure of attending not only this years shebang, but previous years as well. Being able to experience the festivals growth first hand over a number of years has been extremely rewarding and a blessing for us! We love getting the chance to share that experience with you all.
Photo Courtesy of Courtney Scout
Lets jump right into it and talk about the music throughout the weekend shall we? One of my favorite things about Hulaween is their ability to generate an incredibly sundry lineup every year. I’ve mentioned this in years prior, & this year was no different. One of the absolute highlights of the weekend should come as no surprise, a double headlining weekend during the Soundship Spacesystem tour of Pretty Lights who played both Saturday & Sunday night. John Summit also made his debut as a Suwannee headliner on Thursday night. Some other incredible performances we got to watch were Manic Focus, ISOxo, & Big Wild. Of course, it’s not Hulaween unless you get some of The String Cheese Incident in!
The Spirit of Suwannee doesn’t just end with the music. A big wow factor at Hulaween is none other than Spirit Lake. This year they made it bigger, better, and 360 degrees. Everyone loves a good 360 right? Spirit Lake is one of the leading immersive art experiences across American festivals and they truly went all out to show us why this year. A huge highlight for Spirit Lake and Hulaween in general is the art projection mapping on the lake featuring some of the coolest artists out there! This year, they unveiled art programming for the first time ever in the 10 years of Hulaween. In previous years, they always used the element of surprise and didn’t reveal the artists until the festival. Some of the artists for Spirit Lake included Jasper & Shelby Mosher, Tyler Schrader, as well as Cory Glenn‘s ever-famous fire-breathing Incendia Stage! The Campground Stage & Spirit Lake Stage both saw upgrades sonically and visually this year which was awesome to see!
Photo Courtesy of Jay Strausser
My personal experience at Hulaween was absolutely incredible and just gets better with each passing year. There were so many great sets that I caught over the weekend that it’s truly difficult to name only a few. Some of my favorite sets of the weekend included John Summit, Pretty Lights, and Manic Focus. We also spent a lot more time enjoying the art installations with the expansion of Spirit Lake, so that was a lot of fun for my friends and I to spend some time with each other exploring. The interactiveness of all the installations is what really brings Spirit Lake to life. Being able to sit in the cauldron, or the retro TV installation, and even a fire circle with fire spinners which I don’t believe I’ve seen before were all really cool! Suwannee really outdid themselves with a 360 degree Spirit Lake and all that came with it. I would love to see that continue for years to come!
After a massive 10 year anniversary, we can honestly say that we cannot wait to see how Hulaween continues to evolve as one of the most unique and sought after festivals in the country. You simply cannot name a better Halloween weekend festivity in the country. Hope to see you all next year!
