Otis Mountain Get Down was born one night in late July, when a small group of Champlain students and recent alum gathered in the mountains of Elizabethtown, N.Y., and decided to combine two things most Vermonters love: local music and the Lake Champlain valley.

Quillan George, a recent graduate from Champlain College, and Zach Allott, a Champlain senior, are behind the operation. With George’s past music event management experience and Allott’s drive to keep the spirit of Otis Mountain alive, they teamed up to try and put on the festival that had disappeared since 2009 (more on this later).

“We thought it would be about 100 people, just a small get together,” Allott said. But when the duo started posting about the festival on Facebook and Instagram, it went “viral and completely blew up.”

Case in point: the Otis Mountain Get Down Facebook page has more than 1,000 likes.

The music festival hits Allott especially close to home: It will be located on his parent’s property in Elizabethtown, a town about an hour and a half from Burlington across Lake Champlain.

Otis Mountain was a small public ski hill that ran in the 1970’s. Now, the Allott family runs it as a private hill where families can go on weekends and ski for free.

More recently, the mountain was the host of Otis Mountain Music Festival, a world-class blue grass festival that Allott’s dad ran from 2003-2009. The festival stopped running because it was too expensive to keep open. 

“This was a great help for us to have my dad’s experience,” Allott said, who is responsible for most of the logistical aspects of the operation.

The duo decided to change the name to Otis Mountain Get Down while staying true to its original values. “We are getting down with a little bit of everything, and that’s been the mantra since day one,” George said, who booked all of the bands and serves as the marketing lead. 

“I quit my job to do this, and it’s been worth it,” he said.

The festival, which runs this weekend, costs $30 for both nights. This is petty cash compared to the $200-$400 price tags of other top U.S. festivals, such as Bonaroo and Coachella, its organizers said. 

George, whose past event management experience includes co-founding his own entertainment company in high school and working with professional acts like Edward Sharpe and ZZ Ward, the Otis Mountain Get Down is poised to go in a different direction than most established festivals.

“We have no interest in being the next electronic music festival,” said George. “We steered as far away from that as possible.”

But at the same time, they are still trying to appeal to an eclectic audience so bands from all different genres are playing at the event including the Bumping Jones, Formula 5, Potbelly and Grundlefunk.

There are 32 acts on three stages during the festival, including bands from New York, Vermont and a few WRUV DJs who will be playing later in the night. “There may be a few surprises, but you’ll have to come to find out,” said George.

George and Allott justify the low price because they are sticking true to the festival’s original values. “We are trying to expose people to music that is up and coming, and showcase hardworking bands who deserve the publicity,” George said. “Our goal was never to make a profit.”

They also feel that the low price will incentivize people in Burlington to be motivated to attend. Breaking even? “Absolutely,” said George.

The team had an initial budget of $2,000, from 10 individuals who personally invested $200 each. They also tried various fundraising tactics, some of which included parties that served as benefits for Otis. 

“It was a little scary because we were putting out money to bands when we didn’t have any,” said George. “Luckily, it’s worked out and we’ve learned that you have to be confident about what you’re doing in this industry.”

So far, 350-400 tickets have been sold between the organizers efforts and the bands marketing for themselves – each band was given tickets to sell and keep the profit.

“We had no budget, so this was our backwards way of booking,” said George.

Allott said that perhaps the most difficult part of the operation has been dealing with insurance, though they were able to secure a $3 million coverage policy.

Coupled with this, there will be a security team and EMT services on site. “We can only do so much and people are responsible for themselves,” said Allott, when speaking about potential drug use at the festival considering what happened recently on Randall’s Island, N.Y.

Tragedy struck this past weekend at popular rave festival Electric Zoo when two attendees died due to suspected drug overdoses while 19 others collapsed. 

“The whole basis of the festival is not one where this should be an issue,” said George. “It’s self-supported and we think everyone understands that.”

The festival has a no-glass policy and is strictly BYOB. There will be locally sourced food available to purchase.

For more information, visit www.otismountain.com.