(October 17, 2012) — Eagle Rock’s biggest annual event made a huge kickoff, featuring over 70 bands and DJ’s at its 14th annual music festival on Oct. 6. According to Eagle Rock Patch Network, the Music Festival hosts tens of thousands of people who come to enjoy the music and the food. Junior Larisse Lazatin said that she loved the festival because of the good food. “I love food trucks,” said Lazatin. “Listening to the music in the background just topped off my night.” The annual festival was started in 1998 to promote the locals. The festival’s promotion of local music and businesses was meant to bring awareness of Eagle Rock’s multicultural neighborhood. According to Center for the Arts Eagle Rock, the all-ages festival is recognized for its commitment to unifying the community through music. “I love Eagle Rock,” said senior Aram Gevorgyan. “Everything about it is awesome.” Gevorgyan spent most of his time wandering around listening to bands every so often. “All the bands I heard while wandering around really sounded like they were born to play live,” Gevorgyan said. The many people who went to the Music Festival had different reasons for going. Some went to get a good laugh and some attended solely for the music. Although Avakian missed seeing Gaslamp Killer, she amused herself with the little things. Someone in a duck costume and another person doing a robot dance were just a few moments that helped sum up her evening. “That’s why I go,” said senior Amy Avakian. “It’s such an insane festivity.” Among the people who dressed up and those who acted out was Gevorgyan. Gevorgyan went to the festival holding a “Free Hugs” sign. He said that a bunch of random strangers ran to him for hugs. “I even got a line to form and some people wanted to take pictures with me,” Gevorgyan said. Although the event was an all-ages event, Avakian disapproved of the allowance of children. She said that people shouldn’t bring their babies especially because of the festival’s atmosphere of “drugs and bass.” The entrance of the festival had a security check, but it was a little peek into a person’s bag. “There were ten cop cars and the people next to us were taking bong hits,” Avakian said. “It was too ironic.” The Center for the Arts Eagle Rock worked with many musicians and sponsors to create this year’s lineup. According to Eagle Rock Patch Network, the Music Festival is known for its artistically, hand-picked lineup. Senior Helen Mushegian and her friends mostly wandered around stages for the dubstep DJs to come on. “As soon as we heard a good bass drop coming from a band, we would hurry back to that stage,” said Mushegian. “There were a lot of weird people who were fun to just watch,” said junior Anastasia Pinal. “But I had a really awesome time.”