Electronic Dance Music (EDM) has been growing in popularity with prominent artists like Skrillex, Kaskade and Deadmau5, as well as a multitude of festivals featuring them.

One festival in particular has been the talk of the town this spring among members of the EDM community: Spring Weekend.

Approaching its 10th anniversary, the Spring Weekend Festival will be held in Panama City Beach on April 15 to 16.

Described on its website as “essential to the college experience,” Spring Weekend aims to make each event bigger and better than in previous years, and this year is no exception.

“What (makes) this festival different from any other (is that) that we don’t really define ourselves as just a festival,” Jason Adamchak, a USF senior and current vice president of the EDM club at USF, said. 

“It’s more of an experience because this music and festival really caters to a demographic of only college students, whereas a festival like Sunset Music festival caters to more electronic dance music scene.”

Spring Weekend has also been granted exclusive access to host its event at the Panama City Beach, due to some mishaps during last year’s spring break. In other words, no other event will allow drinking and partying on the beach.

“Usually, a lot of college kids go to Panama Beach City, Florida as the spring break destination,” Adamchak said. “But due to a lot of complications during last year’s spring break … they’ve actually banned alcohol and partying on the beach. It’s going to be the only event that’s actually happening on Panama City Beach, Florida, in this time period.”

Food carts will be present throughout the event, serving the audience tasty tidbits while they dance to the music and party. Merchandise carts carrying everything from sunglasses to T-shirts will also be scattered throughout the festival grounds.

On the Spring Weekend Snapchat, the lineup for the event has already been announced and will include performances by 4B, Claptone, Tommy Trash, Seven Lions and a mystery artist, whose identity has not been disclosed.

 Adamchak is also interested in having one of the clubs members DJ during the event.

“As of right now, I’m actually the vice president for the EDM club, here, that we created last semester,” Adamchak said “and then my roommate, who actually is a resident DJ at the Amphitheater Event Facility in Ybor City, he’s been getting a lot of exposure. 

“He’s kind of like the face of, not only USF but also one of the huge Tampa crowds, as well. And we’re trying to get him a lot of exposure to the people who are throwing the festival, to hopefully get him a spot to play at the festival.”

Tickets for the Spring Weekend are available for purchase on their website springweekend.com and start at $139.49 for the general package. 

There is an option to upgrade to VIP or platinum, which includes Spring Weekend merchandise, express check-in and entry, access to the VIP viewing deck and exclusive tickets to the after party. 

The festival takes place all day, both days, so take a weekend trip this April and check out to the Spring Weekend.