Athens, GA's AthFest Music, Arts & Kids Festival June 21-25, 2006

The 10th annual AthFest Music, Arts & Kids Festival runs June 21-25 in downtown Athens, GA. It features over 175 local and regional bands on 2 free outdoor stages and in 17 venues, a 40-booth Juried Artist Market, a KidsFest, film & video events, the Flagpole Athens Music Awards, a compilation CD and more.

Athens, GA (PRWEB) June 21, 2006 -- The 10th annual AthFest Music, Arts & Kids Festival will take place in downtown Athens, GA from June 21 through June 25, 2006. Showcasing its world-renowned scene, AthFest features over 175 local and regional musicians and bands performing on 2 free outdoor stages and in 17 venues over the weekend.

Forty-one artists will perform on the free outdoor stages on West Washington Street from Friday evening through Sunday evening, including headliners the Modern Skirts on Friday, Now It’s Overhead on Saturday and Drivin’ N’ Cryin’ on Sunday. Venues are accessible through a $15 wristband that allows unlimited access to all participating clubs during the nights.

In addition to the live music, AthFest has released a special AthFest 10 2-CD set in conjunction with Ghostmeat Records that will be available at the festival and online through www.athfest.com. The CD features 36 songs from Athens bands and musicians including R.E.M., members of Widespread Panic, the Drive-By Truckers, the Glands, Kevn Kinney, Vic Chesnutt, Five Eight, the Whigs and many others. Fourteen of the tracks are previously unreleased.

While music is a focal point of the festival, AthFest also includes a number of other free activities, including a Juried Artist Market with work from 40 regional artists, art car displays, an outdoor worship service, BMX/skateboard demonstrations, and the KidsFest area with special performances and activities for all ages.

Film is an important part of AthFest, which kicks off on June 21 with the screening of “Two-Headed Cow,” a documentary 20 years in the works about Dexter Romweber and his band, the Flat Duo Jets, who were featured in the 1980’s cult classic “Athens, GA Inside/Out” documentary. A Q&A will follow the screening with Romweber and producer Bill Cody, who also worked on “Inside/Out.” A 20th anniversary highlight reel of “Inside/Out” will also be shown. Afterwards, the Sprockets Music & Video Showcase will present music videos from nearly 20 artists, including Elf Power, Of Montreal, Phosphorescent, and Katelyn Tarver.

Film continues on Saturday with the TeenScreen FilmFest. Teen Screen features a lineup of diverse short films made by local teenage artists, including comedy, adventure, drama, stop-motion Lego animation, and the new short film and behind-the-scenes documentary recently completed by this year's Project::TeenScreen workshop team. This next generation of Athens filmmakers will be in attendance to present and discuss their films.

On Thursday, the annual Flagpole Athens Music Awards will present awards to musicians in 19 categories from hip hop to jazz to pop to bluegrass and feature special live performances from a variety of bands.

New this year will be a special raffle drawing for a 10-day trip for two to Cortona, Italy. Cortona is Athens' sister city and a host for the University of Georgia's summer art program. Raffle tickets are $100 and winners to not need to be present to win during the live drawing on Sunday evening at 7 p.m. on the outdoor stage.

The mission of AthFest is to educate citizens and visitors about the music and arts scene of Athens, GA. Since 1997, AthFest has organized an annual festival to showcase the incredible musicians, artists, businesses and residents of the Athens community.

For more information about the festival, visit www.athfest.com or call 706-548-1973.

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