Enter into the magical, florescent world of Pandora at the West Coast Railway Heritage Park on April 3. No, it's not James Cameron's blockbuster phenomenon Avatar, it's an all-night, electronic music festival hosted by two Squamish university students.
The alcohol-free, all-ages party is the brainchild of two Capilano University students - Robin Minty and Kylie Saso - who have missed attending electronic music festivals since moving away from Calgary several months ago.
"I grew up going to outdoor parties," said the 22-year-old Minty. "And when I came out here I couldn't find anywhere [to go] besides bars."
The whimsical rainforest inspired party will showcase a plethora of local talent and entertainment including wicked beats by two local DJ's; Kiefer Gamble, known as Kiefdizzle and Chris Appleton who spins under the alias of DJ Appletraxx.
Several Whistler DJ's including def'nt, The Travlist, DJ Phroh and Mat the Alien are also slated to spin at the warehouse party.
Appleton said he's stoked about having the opportunity to open for veteran DJ like Mat the Alien even though he's only been spinning electro-house music at parties for six months.
"I'm actually really stoked to play my first gig with [Mat the Alien]. A lot of people know him and have heard of him for the last 15 years," said the 20-year-old.
"It's pretty awesome actually. I have a fat smile on my face right now."
The festival will showcase more than just musical talent with demonstrations by fire spinners and exhibits of local visual artists, according to Minty. The entire warehouse will be decorated using local artwork and fun glow in the dark installations - including a glow in the dark body painting station.
"It's something fun to do for everybody," Minty said.
"It will be spring and it's something to do after the Olympics and it's before the Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival so it's kind of something in the middle for people to have fun."
Minty plans to have water, pop, energy drinks, pizza and candy for sale throughout the night but insists the event will be entirely alcohol-free.
"We decided not to serve alcohol because me and my friend are liable for everyone there, and I'm a bartender so I know how that works. I just didn't want to have that to worry about," she said.
"We're having troubles right now promoting it as a dry event because everyone just assumes it's going to be dry, it's going to be lame. So we're trying to get people to get that out of their heads and we just want to include as many people as possible.
"And if we served alcohol we'd have to shut down at 2:30 a.m. and we have six DJs, so we just wouldn't even have enough time."
The party kicks off at 10 p.m. on Saturday April 3 and runs until 5 a.m. the next morning.
Minty and Saso are currently working on organizing the rental of a commuter bus between Squamish and Whistler although Minty says there's tons of parking available for anyone getting to the party with their own vehicle.
With nearly 200 confirmed guests on the Pandora Facebook site and a venue maximum of 300 people tickets to the event are selling quickly. Admission to the all-ages party costs $25 in advance or $30 at the door.
Tickets are available at Random located at 38065 Cleveland Ave. or in Whistler at Billabong, Katmandu Sports Ltd., or Hempire. Both Minty and Saso will also be selling tickets through the Facebook group.
