this is where my idea of a locker rental facility would come in handy.

Odds are that I will be sleepin somewhere not really near the venues, so if I buy merch, I'm hoping I can just stick it in my car.

I would offer to let other people store their merch in my car, but I'm not sure how practical that would be. you'd have to catch me on the way to the car, and then at the end of the night I'd have to wait for people to retrieve their stuff. OR I COULD JUST STEAL IT ALL.

the car is not a bad idea.. is there free parking, where I can park the car from sat till sun or maybe mon? somwhere maybe close to st markets pub towards kickstand... so could have my hoodie in there, store the merch and have an "emergency" sixpack in the trunk?

Generally all parking is curbside... soo good luck. I'm just going to walk to the Fest because I've heard numerous times that they tow like crazy everywhere, and I don't know how strict their street side parking is or if you have to pay via parking meter, or if you cant park at a past a certain time.

there are a few parking garages, not sure if you'd want to leave your car there over night. i will be parking in them each night.

We haven't been told anything about backpacks. Like the age thing, it's up to each venue to decide how they want to enforce rules like that. If you don't have any drugs, booze, guns, dead babies, etc in the bag it will probably be fine but I'm not sure. If you really need to bring a bag, call the venues now and see what they say.

well there goes all the fun I was planning

bahaha i didn't even catch that when i read it the first time.

Yes. Pay close attention to parking signs, and you'll be fine.

Gainesville's awful reputation for towing comes from the roam towing system, whereby you can be towed from private lots by roaming tow truck operators, whether or not the property owner called the tow truck- basically legalized carjacking. So, the main thing is, watch for those Roam Towing signs, and NEVER park anywhere where you see them- you will probably be towed within the hour if you do. There are actually some office buildings downtown which don't have roam towing in their lots, and it is safe to park in those lots over the weekend, or at least for one night- however, without more local knowledge and experience, I'd recommend sticking to curbside, where there is usually no risk of towing. However, I might recommend east of main and north of university, there seem to be more spaces over that way, and less parking restrictions. Also, the earlier you park on Friday evening, the better, as things get crowded later in the evening- although the Georgia-Florida game will help to keep the non-fest crowds down.

I don't know how people carry backpacks around during The Fest. IMO, that's just like having a fucking albatross around my neck. I personally go to extreme lengths to avoid such an encumberment.

lol @ legalized carjackings. we got towed once, i guess we just wanted to test the roam towing deal here. haha, didn't work out so well. $75 and a 2 mile walk later, we had our car.

def try to get a parking spot early...you can park right on main early enough for sure.

don't park in the parking lot behind the holiday inn, my friend got towed from there last year.

thanks rasputin... already had my experience with parking in the states.. when I had a rental 2001 and arrived late night in san diego I checked for parking and found and was really wondering why that was free... so I looked for signs, bascily walked the whole small block forth and back and didn't find anything so I parked there..

next morning I had a ticket for 60$ and with the daylight I saw the boardwalk was colored... how the hell should me stupid german know that you americans rather paint the boardwalk instead of putting up a sign like every other country I've been to before...

same trip a couple of days later in Santa Barbara I park in front of the hostel.. free parking over night and from 10am one hour on.. we partied to hard with the mad caddies so I overslept and had a ticket at 11.01am for 35$... in the first minute I parked too long, I already got the ticket...

I'll be deinitly a lot more careful this time...

Haha, you beat me to it!

not sure if they might enforce rules a little tighter during Fest, but I often park near the courthouse, a few blocks south of Common Grounds. Not the main courthouse parking lot, that has like a toll booth gate on it, but south of THAT.

Common Grounds will not be allowing bags inside the venue once again this year.

We will be providing a bag check service during the Fest.

We're still working out the details, but you will be allowed access throughout the day to a milkcrate/beerbox sized box to stash your stuff for $5 a day. The bag check will be staffed and secure. We will allow some oversized items if needed.

more details to come.

THIS WAS THE EXACT IDEA I POSTED ON THE BOARD MONTHS AGO.