Float Fest Summer Music Festival Partners With Local Businesses To Clean The River

The fifth annual music festival pushes efforts to clean the San Marcos River before, during and after music event. The only festival in the world to combine live music with floating the river…

Float Fest partners with local businesses such as Don’s Fish Camp, Texas State Tubes, and The Eyes of the San Marcos River for efforts to keep the river clean for its fifth annual music festival on July 21-22. The festival and partners will work together to encourage ways for guests to float responsibly, assist with trash pick up, as well as do a deep river clean up.

Each year, the music festival organizes a river cleanup project; Keep the River Clean, through partnerships with local businesses, employees, and volunteers.

Activities implemented include mesh biodegradable trash bags available for free with tubes for floating, River Wranglers on canoes to help take trash bags, trash receptacles available after tubing at shuttle pick up stations, and the Float Fest crew cleaning up the river before, during, and after the festival with divers and boats to ensure a safe and clean zone.

Float Fest cleanup efforts this year brings more initiatives for an efficient clean up.

“The San Marcos River is a sacred gem to us and is essential to our community,” said Marcus Federman, founder of Float Fest. “Floating the beautiful river is a Texas tradition, yet we want to keep the river alive and clean. We’re thrilled to continue to host fans regionally and nationally, but doing so in a way that is the most effective and sustainable. Thank you to our partners for their efforts in continuously supporting the cause.”

Additional festival efforts

• Cooler Checks at the tubing shuttle pick up tent. No glass or styrofoam is allowed on the river.

• Float Fest Staff will be at the river entrance to assist tubers into the river with their coolers, bags, and additional items.

• Float Fest staff at the river exit taking tubers mesh bags and disposing in trash receptacles and providing assistance with tubers as they exit the river.

• Two River Clean up stations will be set up along the float with 40 staff members to take trash from tubers as they float by. There will also be lifeguards at these stations.

• A “Human Net” just beyond the river exit consisting of 4 people will collect any remaining floating debris that might make it past the exit point.

• Top Water Clean ups via Kayaks and Canoes will assist on Saturday morning and evening, Sunday morning and evening and Monday morning and evening. Before, during and after the event.

• Kayak and Canoe Team will make regular trips all day Saturday and Sunday during the festival times into the evening on the river cleaning up trash and helping tubers as needed.

• Divers will do a river bottom clean up on Tuesday following the festival. They will focus on any remaining debris and anything that sunk to the river floor that might have been left behind.

“Through our partnership with Float Fest, we are striving to keep the river litter free as much as possible, through our coordinated efforts we will create an atmosphere that is enjoyable for everyone and clean for everyone,” said Craig Coleman of Don’s Fish Camp.

“My operating goal is to make this as close to a litter neutral event in regards to the river as possible. Meaning we are being overly proactive in our response and course of action so that we can host an event that represents what this river and its caretaker are all about,” explained Rocco Moses of Texas State Tubes. “We want a clean and healthy river for people to come and enjoy.”

Guests are recommend to leave their important belongings at their car or campsite upon arrival.  Items such as phones, ID’s, cameras, sunglasses, etc can and will possibly get lost in the river.

If guests choose to bring personal items on site, Float Fest team asks that they are secured on them tightly somewhere where they can’t get lost, sink, or float away.

More information on Float Fest’s Keep the River Clean project can be found at KeepTheRiverClean.com.

Float Fest, the only festival in the world to combine the Texas tradition of floating the river and live music, will offer attendees a highly curated mix of alternative, rap, indie rock, and EDM performers. This year, the Texas event will feature two main stages and offer fans a chance to catch every moment of main stage action with non-overlapping sets.  

2018 Float Fest headliners Tame Impala, Bassnectar, Snoop Dogg, Modest Mouse, Run The Jewels, Glass Animals and Lil Wayne will close out the fest each night, performing popular crowd favorites.

Float Fest will also host popular local and regional bands to showcase their talent.

For more information on full music schedule and to stay up to date on all Float Fest happenings, please visit: Website: FloatFest.net, Facebook: Facebook.com/FloatFestival, Twitter: Twitter.com/FloatFest, Instagram: Instagram.com/FloatFest and Event Hashtag: #ThisIsFloatFest.

Float Fest, the only festival in the world to combine the Texas tradition of floating the river and live music, is a San Marcos-based summer music festival that began in 2014. Founded by Marcus Federman, the outdoor two-day music festival takes place at Cool River Ranch, hosts over 20 thousand music fans each festival day, and offers camping and tubing amenities along the San Marcos river.

Float Fest also organizes a river cleanup project, Keep the River Clean, which includes cleaning up the river before, during, and after the festival with divers and boats to ensure a safe and clean zone. For more information on Keep the River Clean, please visit KeepTheRiverClean.com.