Everfest and Fest300, two global digital festival discovery communities that merged in 2016 under the Everfest brand, today have revealed their annual Fest300 list presenting the 300 most esteemed festivals from around the world as nominated by Fest300 co-founder, Airbnb Strategic Advisor and Burning Man board member Chip Conley and as voted on by Everfest’s 500k member community.
The former Fest300 team has spent four years refining a model for how people discover festivals and digitize these life-changing experiences. Under the Everfest brand, the team will travel the world in search of the most meaningful events, producing a 24/7 unmatched global editorial view on festival culture. Encompassing festivals from over 70 countries, the Fest300 list looks beyond borders, mediums, and size, creating a quantitative snapshot of how festivals are driving the live event industry as well as becoming cultural touchstones across the world.
In keeping with the ever changing festival landscape the 2017 list touches on events centered around music, film, visual art, yoga and includes new additions like CHI WOW WAH TOWN (Australia), Gratitude Migration (New Jersey), Electric Castle (Romania), Woodstock Festival Poland, Djakarta Warehouse Project (Indonesia), Punk Rock Bowling & Music Festival (Nevada) and Genius Loci (Mexico) as well as returning faves.
In Eamon Armstrong, Fest300 Global Curator’s own words, “Each November we run a crowdsourcing campaign in which we remove 30 festivals from our list of 300 and ask the international festival community to vote on new ones. We start by nominating 150 festivals we’ve discovered and we ask our community to vote on them or write in their own.”
As outlined in Nielsen’s Audience Insights Report on Music Festivals, 32 million people attend at least one festival in the U.S each year and will travel an average of 900 miles to attend a festival. Music fans are also twice as likely to discover music via Facebook, thus outlining the importance of digital discovery platforms for the new generation of festival-goers.
‘For a few years, I’ve been saying ‘The more digital we get, the more ritual we need,’ but with the growing demand for festivals this year, I think the new mantra is ‘the more the world becomes crazy, the more we seek refuge.’ We’re proud to announce our 2017 list so that our Everfest/Fest300 fan base can seek out new places beyond the ‘default’ world.”’ – Fest300 Co-Founder Chip Conley
When Everfest and Fest300 joined forces in 2016, its mission was to become the undisputed global authority on the world’s music and cultural festivals fusing savvy editorial content, tech-driven discovery tools, and a forward thinking digital home for the global festival community. What began as a simple tool for finding events has expanded into the community’s first member’s club, Everfest Premium, offering exclusive perks, discounts, and experiences from over event partners around the world. Examples include free VIP upgrades, pre-sale access, artist meet and greets, discounts on ticket, food, merch and more. With nearly half a million basic users, Everfest is primed to offer a first of its kind opportunity for passionate festival fans around the world.
“We’re thrilled to have the Fest300 team on board to help make the world a little more festive. Their thought leadership is a pillar of the community we are building together, and Everfest Premium is the next evolutionary step towards that goal. We want to elevate the festival experience and truly meld it with our fans passions and curiosities to enable all of us to discover and attend one more festival a year”. Everfest CEO Jay Manickam
This year, Everfest’s Fest300 list is 54% music-focused, with a 3% growth in electronic music. 37% of the 2017 list additions are based in Europe, while North America still retains 37% of the overall list. These North American 2017 winners are primarily focused on the ‘Conscious Gathering’ trend, offering more experiential programming than just music. Events with exotic locations proved to be trending in the 2017 list, further pointing to destination festivals as a rising tide across global festival-going. Per the site’s tradition, 30 festivals previously included on the annual list were removed, and the final 30 festivals were selected by festivalgoers via a crowdsourcing campaign, Fest300’s Best Fest Quest, held in November.
2017 Fest300 List Additions : The World’s Best Festivals
CHI WOW WAH TOWN
- Location – Australia
- Dates – February 24-26, 2017
Earth Frequency Festival
- Location – Australia
- Dates – February 17 – 20, 2017
Yemaya Festival
- Location – Australia
- Dates – April 21 – 24, 2017
Meadows in the Mountains
- Location – Bulgaria
- Dates – June 9 – June 12, 2017
Festival Western de St-Tite
- Location – Canada
- Dates – September 8 – 17, 2017
Fozzyfest
- Location – Canada
- Dates – September 14 – 17, 2017
Love International
- Location – Croatia
- Dates – June 28 – July 5, 2017
Let it Roll
- Location – Czech Republic
- Dates – August 3 – 5, 2017
Pete the Monkey Festival
- Location – France
- Dates – TBD
Balaton Sound
- Location – Hungary
- Dates – July 5 – July 9, 2017
Djakarta Warehouse Project
- Location – Indonesia
- Dates – TBD
Jakarta International Java Jazz Festival
- Location – Indonesia
- Dates – March 3 – 5, 2017
Paratissima
- Location – Italy, Macedonia
- Dates – TBD
Genius Loci Fest
- Location – Mexico
- Dates – June 22 – 26, 2017
Felabration
- Location – Nigeria
- Dates – TBD
Woodstock Festival Poland
- Location – Poland
- August 3 – 5, 2017
AgitÁgueda Art Festival
- Location – Portugal
- July 1 – 23, 2017
Electric Castle
- Location – Romania
- July 12 – 17, 2017
Alfa Future People
- Location – Russia
- July 7 – 9, 2017
Sweden Rock Festival
- Location – Sweden
- June 7 – 10, 2017
Nyege Nyege Festival
- Location – Uganda
- September 1 – 3, 2017
Eastern Electrics
- Location – United Kingdom
- Dates – August 5, 2017
Enchanted Forest Gathering
- Location – California, USA
- Dates – June 9 – 11, 2017
Riot Fest
- Location – Colorado & Illinois, USA
- Dates – Chicago – September 15 – 17, 2017
- Dates – Denver – TBD
Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival
- Location – Florida, USA
- Dates – March 2 – 5, 2017
Dancefestopia
- Location – Missouri, USA
- Dates – Sept 7 – 10, 2017
Punk Rock Bowling & Music Festival
- Location – Nevada, USA
- Dates – May 27 – 29, 2017
Gratitude Migration
- Location – New Jersey, USA
- Dates – July 14 – 16, 2017
Euphoria
- Location – Texas, USA
- Dates – April 6 – 9, 2017
Quest Festival Vietnam
- Location – Vietnam
- Dates – TBD
Everfest
