- April 18, 2024
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The NED's Aaron Bowser plays the bass on stage. Photo by Paige Wilson
Festival creators and Flo.Wav bandmates Dylan Parra and Conor Bertha. Photo by Paige Wilson
Ashton Kuehne, of The NED, plays guitar on the PCAF stage. Photo by Paige Wilson
Rock n' roll and punk attire was a common sight among festival-goers. Photo by Paige Wilson
Ormond Beach residents Savannah Wheaton and Ellie Berger enjoy the festival. Photo by Paige Wilson
Palm Coast residents Scott Ryan and Jordan Costa enjoy the festival. Photo by Paige Wilson
Festival-goers applaud The NED, who performed at the main stage in the late afternoon. Photo by Paige Wilson
Festival creator Dylan Parra sings with Observatory. Photo by Paige Wilson
Trace George, of The NED, hypes up headbangers. Photo by Paige Wilson
The NED bandmates Ashton Kuehne and Trace George. Photo by Paige Wilson
Trace George, of The NED, sings to the crowd. Photo by Paige Wilson
Tampa resident Audrey Zynda and Palm Coast residents Tyler Perry and Molly Repass enjoy the festival. Photo by Paige Wilson
Ashton Kuehne of The NED. Photo by Paige Wilson
The NED is made up of Aaron Bowser, Joe Gardella, Trace George and Ashton Kuehne. Photo by Paige Wilson
Ashton Kuehne, of The NED, hypes up the festival-goers. Photo by Paige Wilson
Palm Coast resident Alex Moulter swings at a car that festival creators Dylan Parra and Conor Bertha parked at the event. The pair said people flipped and wrecked the car but that it was "hilarious." Photo by Paige Wilson
Dylan Parra, of Flo.Wav, performs on drums. Courtesy photo by Stephen Helfrich
MNBND, a Palm Coast band, performs to a packed crowd, at the main stage during the Flo.Wav festival. Courtesy photo by Stephen Helfrich
Conor Bertha, of Flo.Wav, sings to the crowd. Courtesy photo by Stephen Helfrich
Headbangers sporting an assortment of tie-dye T-shirts, mohawks, leather vests and more rocked out in a mosh pit as Palm Coast punk/grunge/rock band The NED performed on the Palm Coast Arts Foundation stage.
Bringing the “good vibes” of music festivals to Palm Coast, Flo.Wav Music and Arts Festival 2 showcased 43 bands from noon to midnight on Saturday, Aug. 4, at the PCAF stage in Town Center. Flo.Wav bandmates Conor Bertha and Dylan Parra, of Palm Coast, brought their festival vision to life last summer in St. Augustine with an event featuring 13 bands, but they grew it exponentially this year.
“This year, we were like, ‘Let’s do it way bigger, way better and if we could, let’s do it in our hometown because they don’t really have stuff like that around here,’” Parra said.
For $5, festival-goers could watch a handful of local musicians and bands, including Blüm, SupaChase, MNBND, Dutch Martins, 2Chill, Matt Curly, Nate Utley and Flo.Wav during the festival. The music genres featured sounds such as EDM, hardcore, alternative rock, jazzy funk, rock, rap, hip-hop and country.
Both originally drummers, Bertha and Parra have collaborated in their duo band “Flo.Wav” for the last 1.5 years. They sing, rap, play guitar, drums, bass and keyboard during local gigs in venues from Jacksonville to Daytona Beach.
The pair said support from their families has been instrumental in running the festival.
“We’ve got the whole family out here. We’re lucky; we’re blessed,” Parra said. “We’ve been doing this for a while. And we wanted to do something new in the place, so we figured this would be perfect.”
“My pregnant wife is out there,” Bertha added.
The ticket booth racked in around $1,100, and the Flo.Wav merchandise tent raised about $200. Bertha and Parra also sold 1,300 tickets total to the 43 featured bands so they could sell them on their own for $5 a ticket to make money themselves after paying a $25 fee to be in the festival. The festival earnings will go toward making next year's event bigger and better.
PCAF Executive Director Nancy Crouch said she was grateful the festival organizers chose the PCAF stage for the event venue.
“We want to open up the community to our site, so that means giving the younger demographic a way to showcase their art in whatever forms that may be,” she said.
Attendees cooled off at the misting tent, listened to acts at three stage areas and snacked on grub from local vendors.
“Everybody is just excited to be here, excited to share their craft, excited to experience everybody else’s,” Bertha said.
Next year, Parra and Bertha hope to even attract some national music acts to the festival, which they want to hold in Palm Coast again in the summer.
“You really have to establish a reputation as a festival and get artists to want to come,” Bertha said.
