Music by day, camping by night, Plan-It-X Fest has been an on-and-off gathering ground for punks from around the world since 2004. The weekend of folk-punk, which will run July 22 to 24 at Stable Studios in Spencer, brings people to southern Indiana to see both friends and scores of bands perform.
Chris Clavin, the co-founder of Plan-It-X Records and an organizer of the festival, says that just because you’ve been to other music festivals doesn’t mean you’ll be a master of Plan-It-X Fest. There are key differences to the festival compared to major music festivals, including the small size of roughly 1,500 attendees, the single-stage system, the lack of official headliners, the anti-capitalistic attitudes, and more.
Perhaps the biggest difference is Plan-It-X’s charity aspect. The touring bands are paid modestly, which allows the remainder of proceeds to go toward Midwest Pages to Prisoners Project, All Options Pregnancy Resource Center, and The Void.
Even with the good intentions, surviving this high-energy weekend is no walk in the woods. Thankfully, Clavin and some other festival organizers have come up with enough tips and tricks to make sure you — and your inner anarchist — get the most out of Plan-It-X Fest.
1. Know your transportation methods
First of all, you need to get to Stable Studios. Despite the misconception that the fest is located in Bloomington (which it was in past years), it is about 20 miles away in Spencer.
“If you’re taking the Greyhound to Bloomington, or you’re flying to Indianapolis, do some research and figure out how to get to the countryside of Indiana,” Clavin says.
So unless you’re planning to make the six-hour walk from Bloomington, you should either carpool — which festival organizers strongly recommend due to limited parking — or take the Rural Transit bus system, which has information available on their website.
