Following the trend in recent years of growing lot scenes at summer festivals, the ShadyLots Festival will focus entirely on celebrating the makeshift city that forms outside the usual festival grounds. The festival will feature no planned musical entertainment, though drum circles, impromptu acoustic jams, and loud stereo playing are highly encouraged. The festival grounds will feature four intersecting shakedown streets featuring the finest in patchwork clothing, hand-blown glass, incense, and art, along side heady burritos, grilled cheese and dollar beers. Other festival activities may include a late night disco party out of the back of some guys van, a communal exchange of tickets, and a copious amount of empty balloons on the ground. Said ShadyLots promoter Dustin Diamond, ‘You know, I always say that I’m going to a festival to see a certain band or two, but in reality, I never make it more than 500 feet from my campsite all weekend.’ With lazy, scenester hippies like himself in mind, Diamond has planned the inaugural event, which will be held on the periphery of a 300-acre farm in Akron,
Ohio on August 18-20.