It’s a summer camp for some and a family reunion for others.

Madeline will perform at this year's PopFest in Athens, one of many bands the 'fest has booked as part of an ever-changing yearly lineup. Courtesy Madeline

For Athenians, it’s an up-and coming tradition.

Athens PopFest has been going strong in the community since 2004. Founded by Mike Turner of Athens-based Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records, PopFest has grown from a two-night affair at Tasty World to one of Athens’ premiere musical spotlights, and has brought in some of the world’s most talented acts including Mission of Burma and Ted Leo.

“The idea behind the first few years was pretty much the same as it is now,” said Gordon Lamb, one of the event’s organizers. “That is, bring the best bands we can from all over the world to Athens.”

Lamb first got involved with PopFest after covering it with Flagpole in 2005. Two years later, he wanted to get involved and started helping out.

Now, he is a full-pledged partner.

“Mike and I had known each other for a long time, so there wasn’t a hiring process,” he said. “We just agreed to be partners of the PopFest.”

Lamb, Turner and business manager Len Neighbors are the PopFest committee. Aside from the organizing and legal issues, they also decide which artists will perform at the event.

“We don’t necessarily have to love every band we book, but every band has to have something special about them,” Lamb said. “It has to fit within the scope of music that we have kind of developed the PopFest personality around.”

It starts with the committee taking submissions and listening to every band that submits an application. It then extends invitations to the bigger named artists.

Local bands are not overly booked, because the committee feels it would treading on the other local festival, AthFest.

“We’re a music festival that happens locally, but we’re not a local music festival,” Lamb said.

While Tasty World no longer handles PopFest, several venues have stepped up to play a role — like the 40 Watt, which has been affiliated with the festival, dating back seven years.

“I think it is the perfect match,” said Velena Vego, who books the bands at the 40 Watt. You got indie rock—when it first started it was more pop indie rock, and now it has gotten into all kinds of music. It’s kind of all over the place but it’s still in that family of Indie Rock.”

Ever since the venue has taken part in PopFest, the headliners have taken the historic stage.

“It kind of went hand-in-hand having the bigger acts at the 40 Watt,” Vego said.

This year, other acts will be performing at Caledonia, and two acts — High Fidelics and Los Meesfits — will grace the patio of Ted’s Most Best.

During Vegos’s time collaborating with PopFest, many historical moments around the event have occurred.

For Vego, the one that stands out was seeing 13th Floor Elevators lead man Roky Erickson, perform.

“To be able to have him, on the 40 Watt stage, that was pretty remarkable,” she said. “He just didn’t miss a beat, it was fantastic.”

Black Kids had a breakout moment playing PopFest four years ago. This week, it returns. Courtesy Black Kids

PopFest to some has become a turning point for musicians in their careers. For the indie group Black Kids, the members look back on its 2007 performance as the start of its rise to fame.

“That moment was kind of a turning point for us,” said bassist Owen Holmes. “We had played in Jacksonville for several years as kind of local and not really getting anywhere. It wasn’t until we started playing Athens PopFest that things started happening for us.”

Following the Jacksonville band’s performance, Black Kids saw its popularity skyrocket, garnering world attention.

“I’m not saying if we hadn’t of played PopFest it wouldn’t have happened,” Holmes said. “Maybe things wouldn’t have, I don’t know. For me, that was where things started to work out for us.”

Holmes, who will be performing again with his project Gospel Music, hopes history will repeat itself.

“It meant a lot playing there with Black Kids,” he said, “but it will mean even more to me this time performing my own songs.”

The definition of pop, when relating to the festival is not solely related to “indie pop” or what plays on top 40 radio stations.

“The musical focus of the festival has shifted somewhat from straight-up indie pop to something much broader that includes post-punk, indie-pop, punk, garage, experimental, a smidgen of country, a dash of folk and more,” Lamb said.

But not everything has been perfect with PopFest.

Despite its success, the event was cancelled in 2009 due to the shaky economic status at the time.

“We were in the position of not only having to organize a festival, but having to ask people to pay for tickets, having to seek sponsorship money from people, and we just kind of felt like this is something we’re just not comfortable doing,” Lamb said. “Everyone is hurting right now. We’re just not comfortable asking people for money at this point.”

The festival returned the following year and did not miss a beat. That year, the festival organizers announced the Athens PopFest Foundation, which was granted nonprofit status—but there were worries.

“To be perfectly honest we were kind of worried that we would have lost momentum,” Lamb said. “The point where we were no longer worried about the loss of momentum was when we had confirmed Mission of Burma as one of our headliner’s last year. As soon as that happened, we knew we were on the right track.”

The nonprofit is giving back to the community which hosts the event by offering scholarships to students from Cedar Shoals and Clarke Central high schools and sending students to the Athens Girl’s Rock Camp and Nuçi’s Space “Camp Amped.”

“We are very committed to the idea that the festival be more than just a week of shows that doesn’t provide anything more to the community,” Lamb said.

The present has brought forward new additions as well.

The addition of a Saturday event at The Classic Center called the “Poptober Fair” will bring crafts, comic book and record venders from throughout the nation.

The most notable change was moving the festival from August to October.

Lamb hopes that the change of date will encourage more college students to come out, and become familiar with the musical culture of Athens.

“Even if somehow they have heard of the downtown music scene, many of them haven’t experienced it,” he said.

Although the exposure to the college students is an added benefit, the main reason for changing the date had to do with the weather.

The Afternoon Naps, another group performing at PopFest, is pleased with the changes the festival has made from last year to this, which include changing the date farther back in the year. Courtesy Afternoon Naps

“I think us having it in October is an experiment,” Lamb said. “Our first reason for doing it was the weather. We have been doing this in August since 2004. It was really miserable running all the equipment and bands around in the middle of summer weather.”

Many of the musicians are happy as well with the change of the festival’s date.

“Last year [PopFest] was great but it felt like it was 150 degrees every day for like a week,” said Tom Dechristofaro, vocalist and guitarist for Afternoon Naps. “We’re from Cleveland, that was a little much. [The weather] is totally different down there, it like physically hurts.”

Afternoon Naps are returning this year and will be its third time performing at PopFest.

“I’ve made a lot of friends because of PopFest, it’s kind of like a summer camp,” Dechristofaro said.

Others have seen the event as a family reunion of sorts. Many of the artists come from across the country, and use the Athens event as a chance to catch up and provide special performances.

“It’s kind of become like a family reunion thing,” said Gabe Saucedo, of Red Pony Clock. “Every year I go out and I meet new people and we all come back again next year. It’s just really nice to have all that many friends in one spot. It’s also cool, because I get to see all these bands that never come to California.”

As Popfest looks to the future, it hopes to expand even more — without forgetting what matters most.

“The music will always be the heart and soul of the Athens Popfest, always,” Lamb said. “But we’re a cultural event for Athens, Georgia. We want to try new things.”

ATHENS POPFEST

Where: Caledonia, 40 Watt

When: Oct. 12-15, times vary

Price: Tickets vary, $70 (festival pass)

Contact: athenspopfest.com for full schedule and tickets