By: Paul Esquivel
This past weekend marked the third year for Oaktopia Fest in Downtown Denton and the music/arts festival keeps getting bigger and better. Oaktopia has been making quite a name for itself since starting in 2013 and doesn’t show signs of slowing down. Things kicked off Friday September 25 through Sunday September 27. It was three days of awesome and here is why you should check it out… besides being able to see Jason Lee.
This is just one day worth of bands
With pretty much anything your heart desired, Oaktopia treated festival goers to a crazy and diverse array of bands alongside vendors, art, food, outdoor movies, and of course beer. There were some annoyances over the weekend that hindered the experience a wee bit, but not too much. Being off time is normal and usually expected in shows, but some having over an hour of technical issues kind of sucks. Add in constantly getting checked if you have a press pass because security was lacking, either mis-identifying or no identification at all that conflicted with the layout of the map, yeah this was a little shitty. Oaktopia’s social accounts weren’t helping this either being guilty of sending fans to the wrong stage while promoting acts. This all though is honestly forgivable.
DJ Mom Jeans
Oaktopia as a whole was a fantastic experience. Denton Artists such as Jessie Fyre and Father repped the city well and proved Denton’s array of musical talent. Oaktopia looks like a “South by South West jr.” at its surface, but it’s much more than that and proves ambitious. Denton’s small town charm only compliments going between venues to see different bands of all kinds of style. Oaktopia only has a few things to improve and learn from but is easily providing one of the best musical festival experiences in North Texas and I can’t wait for next year.
