Borda Productions saw an opportunity for growth for Dancefestopia, Kansas City’s largest music festival since 2012, forty five minutes South of Kansas City in La Cygne, Kansas. The four day festival was coined Emerald City this past year with references to the classic 1939 Wizard of Oz film throughout the 230 acre festival grounds.
Festival goers traveled across the country to take part with rain boots and ponchos readily available, despite the forecast of heavy rain for the majority of the weekend.
Welcome to Emerald City
As a veteran to Dancefestopia who has experienced the struggle for Borda Productions to find a permanent home for the ever going music festival, I believe they have finally found that home.
The 230 acres of La Cygne, Kansas were perfect for the festivities along with camping. The grounds enclosed Forest and Field camping available to those who were unable to secure a hotel, which there were not many nearby.
Camping is highly recommended for this festival whether you live nearby or not. I live in Kansas City and from the festival it was a forty five minute drive to my home. Not a horribly far distance but after spending all day on my feet, trudging through mud, and dancing until 4 am I was the definition of exhausted.
The Music & Vibes
While this year was a little more on the heavier side of electronic music with the dominant presence of dubstep and it’s sub-genres, the festival caught the attention of thousands of attendants.
The pre party on Thursday on the main stage was closed out with a four person back to back set with Funtcase, Cookie Monsta, Doctor P, and Flux Pavilion. Borda Productions was started off their festival weekend and set the mood with high levels of energy.
The festival was headlined by Adventure Club, Rezz, Illenium, Snails, Flux Pavilion, and Zedds Dead. Each headliner put on a one of a kind show that if missed, I am sad to say, you missed one hell of a show.
For those that did attend, there was no common frustration of having to choose between set times and stages for the headliners considering there were only three stages and an after hours bass bus.
To keep the music going until nearly 6 am daily, time slots were filled with up and coming local producers. Lotemp, Acer Vantes, Curvatur3, Longer Days and Altituned are a few of the many which reside in the Kansas City area.
An Uphill Battle
Borda may not have control over the weather but they do have control over the conditions of the grounds.
They have learned from years past with the rain-out of 2016 which shut the festival down on the first day and left the grounds wrecked after the four day festival. Their efforts for maintaining the grounds were seen in the spreading of mulch in multiple areas to help with the sludge and make it more manageable to walk on.
While they did what they could, the mud was all throughout the festival grounds and in some places more like sludge.
Pro Tip: Wear comfortable boots and always bring extra socks! Rain or shine! So many people wore Vans, Converse, and flip flops that were lost to the sludge. SUPER PRO TIP: Invest in a pair of casual hiking boots, your feet and body will thank you later.
I walked a lot that weekend. I felt the map provided (above) did not provide a fully accurate map of the landscape. It was much more spread out than expected and I felt there was a lack of signage directing crowds to areas.
My suggestions for next year would be to increase signage not only for camping but also the festival grounds, more lighting fixtures, and more trashcans. I would also like to see a recycling program in place.
As always, the biggest room for improvement for many festivals will always be the bathrooms. The only bathrooms for VIP stopped working on the second day. I felt the porta potties inside the festival grounds were not cleaned as frequently as they could have been but this holdup could have been due to the rain.
Emerald City 2019
Dancefestopia 2019 tickets are available to purchase on today for half the price through Cyber Monday. No promo code required!
Pro tip: I highly recommend this for anyone who likes to get the best deals on tickets and save some money. Usually this is the lowest price they’re ever going to be with VIP tickets available for $99 in comparison to the $300+ they normally are!
Dancefestopia for 2019 has high expectations and I don’t see Borda falling short any time soon. At La Cygne, I believe there is plenty of room for growth for Dancefestopia to gain the attention it deserves and am excited to return to Emerald City 2019!
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Festpop Social Media Manager, Anissa Martinez
