MICROFEST Recap: Missoula's Coolest (and Hottest) New Festival

On Saturday, June 24, music lovers of all ages gathered at Missoula's MOBASH skate park to take in the inaugural Microfest, which was put together almost by accident by its coordinators, Sam Kaley and Dave Jones of the band Night Witch. Prior to the show, I caught up with Dave and Sam to chat about how the festival came to be, and you can read all about that here.

I sadly wasn't able to make it out for the whole day of music, but I did manage to see a few of my favorite local acts perform, including Deathcare Industries, Damnthebadluck, and Night Witch, but the whole day was full of amazing acts, skateboarders entertaining the crowd between sets and a LOT of sunshine. Even though it was only about 80 degrees on Saturday, it was by far the sunniest day we'd had up until that point this year, and shade and cold water were valuable commodities. I'll probably bring my own cooler full of ice next time. And more sunscreen.

The piercing sun didn't stop the bands from performing energetic sets, though, and it definitely didn't stop the audience from getting down to the music. It was so much fun to watch the onlookers dancing and moshing, while skateboarders threw down tricks in the background. It was a truly unique experience that I'm so glad I got to be a part of.

I truly hope Microfest lives on as an annual event - it's got all the right moving parts to be one of my favorite Missoula traditions. You can check out more photos from the day below!