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Four days, six years: Firefly attracts thousands nationwide

Thousands of campers from all over the country arrived Wednesday and Thursday for the 2017 Firefly Music Festival in Dover.

 

 

As they waited for the music to start, they played everything from beach volleyball to hackey sack.

 

Sam Charowsky from Reading, Pennsylvania, passed the time with his friends playing a giant version of the classic woodblock game Jenga. It’s his second year coming to Firefly.

 

“It’s an awesome experience. It’s basically just five days of nonstop fun, party, peace. What’s not to like about it?” Charowsky said.

 

Tim Friedman from Bethany Beach, is returning for the third time to the festival.

 

“It’s crazy because someone I’m camping with - he drove all the way from Colorado just to be here. He got here last night and it was like a thirty hour drive. So it’s wild to me that this is in my backyard,” Friedman said.

 

Jacob Marchenkowsky and Annalise Carreira also had a long drive to Firefly. They drove 10 hours from Ontario, Canada to experience their first time at the festival.

 

“It was our anniversary and she showed me, because she wanted to get me an anniversary gift, because Twenty One Pilots is here and it’s my favorite band,” Marchenkowsky said.

 

Carreira gave him a couple of festival posters to choose from and asked him to pick one. She said at Firefly, she’s expecting…

“Just to get crazy all the time and not sleep,” Carreira said. “Being tired all the time, it will be great.”

 

Returning festival-goers already know that Firefly is a little different this year. Firefly spokeswoman Priscilla Santillan said it was up to fans and festival-goers to vote on new food, talent and a new multi-level platform bar called “The Fort,” next to the Backyard Stage.

 

“I’m a huge music fan myself and I think the crowd that comes to Firefly is just really passionate about music and fans are just excited to be here,” Santillan said.

 

She continued, “I think fans just really love the location, they love the talent, they just really love the genuine positivity of the festival, so I think that’s what brings fans back every single year,” Santillan said.

 

Dover based rap group Trio helped helped get things started Thursday - playing on the Northeast Hub stage out in the camping area before the main gates opened.

 

Headliners this week include Bob Dylan, The Weeknd and Twenty One Pilots.

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