In what has become an annual gathering in the Bryson area, Groove and Bass was first organized in the summer of 2021. Attracting festival-goers and electronic music artists from throughout the world, the event is billed as a “welcoming environment for people of all backgrounds, genders, sexualities, races, ethnicities, and religions. Everyone is welcome and wanted in this family.”

The event is run on a large tract of privately owned property, adjacent to Wilson Road just north of the town of Bryson. Mainly forested, the land has rudimentary roads running through it that lead to open areas for camping and stages for artists.

Groove and Bass possesses all the facilities needed to house the approximately 800 in attendance, with outhouses, showers, small food-truck style food stands and a bar on the premises.

“We were just a crew of friends who loved to go to festivals and at that point in time nobody else was doing it so it just made sense to collaborate and see where it went,” one of the event’s organizers Pablo Cabezas said. “The music is very diverse in many ways, its primarily electronic with such genres as techno, side-trance, side-tech, drum and bass, jungle. Just an eclectic mix.”

The humidity and downpouring rain storms of the weekend didn’t seem to put a damper on the occasion.

With the deep thump of the Bass drum echoing off the venue’s large trees, revelers took to the dancefloor to sway and weave to the music. Baton wielders synced their movements to the pounding rhythms, stopping only for the occasional drink of water.

Alongside the dance floor, groups of people sat, rested and chatted. Visual artists painted portraits of the surroundings as others enjoyed freshly made pizza from one of the event’s food stands.

Matiki Mahutavski, who also helps organize the event, explained that rather than something to complain about, the weekend’s weather was considered ideal within the electronic music loving subculture.

“During the actual festival, the weather has been nice. It rained on us a few times but rain on the dancefloor is not an inhibitor at all. People really kind of embrace it and it often brings up the energy,” said Mahutavski, the sincerity visible on her face.

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