Despite friction with neighbors, Cayce electronic music festival grows, this year with Shaq

The Historic Columbia Speedway isn’t an obvious spot for a big-time electronic music festival.

The venue’s life as a racetrack started in the 1940s, and it was a prime NASCAR dirt track until the association shifted away from unpaved tracks in the ’60s and ’70s. The track was eventually paved, but NASCAR moved on.

It last hosted a race in 1977 until it was reclaimed for an anniversary celebration in 2009. Since then, it has become a sporadically used event space, keying on its 9-acre grassy infield, but for years its only consistent user was the annual Tartan Day South celebration of Scottish culture and Highland games, including stone put and hammer throw.

None of this screams out for an EDM throwdown like the Hidden City Music Festival to take up residence.

But the festival continues to make a home in Cayce, returning for a third-straight year this Saturday. And it has continued to grow, last year bringing in electronic music superstar Steve Aoki, who counts nearly 3 billion music streams to his name, and charging into 2024 with a headlining DJ set from Diesel, AKA Shaquille O’Neal.

“My favorite thing about the speedway is when you go there, you’re kind of surrounded by trees. It’s grass,” said Shelby Judd, Hidden City’s CEO and festival director, explaining that he and his business partner looked at several other potential locations before settling on the Cayce venue.

“I’ve been to a lot of music festivals — you show up, and it’s all on concrete, and you still feel like you’re in the city,” Judd added. “(The speedway’s) not far away from downtown Columbia, but I’m kind of away from the buildings.”

Crowds have thus far responded to the location and topline EDM talent, with the festival director reporting that attendance the first two years ranged between about 4,000 and 5,000 people, with more expected this year. And the event is looking to expand and enhance the experience, bringing a new stage that should better represent its role as the temple at the center of the festival’s Mayan theme, hosting more vendors and adding a rink for roller skating.

But the relationship with the neighbors has been rocky, which casts some doubt on Hidden City’s long-term future in Cayce.

Throbbing bass and a venue surrounded by residential neighborhoods didn’t mix well in year one. The speedway had recently played host to the socially distanced Cola Concerts series in 2020 and 2021, which brought an array of large folk and rock concerts (Jason Isbell, Billy Strings, Indigo Girls, etc.). But the first Hidden City elicited a particularly strong wave of complaints, with residents turning to Cayce officials to do something about the “rattling windows” and “excessive bass.”

After being ticketed for high noise levels in 2022, Hidden City looked to be a better neighbor in year two. The festival applied for an extension on the city’s noise ordinance to 10:30 p.m. from the regular 10 p.m., which it was granted last year and this year along with permission for fireworks. Festival organizers distributed door hangers throughout the neighborhoods to let people know the event was coming. Organizers also sent workers with decibel readers into those neighborhoods during the event to make sure the noise didn’t become too much.

This year, the event sent out mailers alerting neighbors to the March 30 event, and they’ll again be taking decibel readings. And the results from last year have Judd feeling confident they’re not being a nuisance.

“Last year, we never went above 105 decibels,” he said. “Most rock concerts and country concerts are like 115, 120.”

Cayce City Manager Tracy Hegler confirmed that the festival is doing better by its neighbors and that the relationship between the event and the city is getting smoother.

“We still get a couple complaints, but it’s a concert,” she said, adding that organizers have been proactive, meeting with the city to make sure there aren’t any unforeseen issues.

Drawing people to Cayce

John Banks, part of the Historic Columbia Speedway Group that operates the venue, said he’s not surprised the event has found success, sitting just a few miles from downtown Columbia and the University of South Carolina. He also said he has confidence in the organizers’ ability to continue putting on a responsible event.

“We turn down probably 40 music events a year because we know they’re not professional and would be too loud and stuff like that. So we don’t accept many,” Banks offered. “(Hidden City is) one that has been able to work with the city and work with the noise ordinances and the decibel level to make it work.”

Hegler noted that the process of working with events like Hidden City makes Cayce better able to figure out how to handle new events that might come up in the city — which is good, because they’re great for visibility and drawing people to the area.

“We love people coming to our restaurants and staying in our hotels, and maybe even spending a day walking our riverwalk,” she said. “So we’re really, really open to tourism. We’re open to visitors. And we are a safe place for that. And I think we are very welcoming. We’ll work with anybody that’s willing to respect our rules and bring those folks to us.”

Making sure the relationship with the city can stay so smooth will be crucial as Hidden City looks toward the future. Judd said they’ve looked into partnering with the venue to install permanent soundproofing, but that would be a significant investment, and they need to be sure the speedway can be their permanent home.

“I think it’s beneficial for the city,” the festival director explained. “Not only does it kind of put a name to the place — now Cayce can say, ‘Hey, we’ve had Shaquille O’Neal and Steve Aoki, some of the biggest celebrities in the nation here.’ But I mean, we pay tax dollars, our money flows into the cities around there. But we’re growing with it. And we’re learning to work with each other and navigate. But I do think we are headed in the right direction and are forming a positive relationship.”

Attending the Hidden City Music Festival

When: March 30, 12-10:30 p.m.

Where: Historic Columbia Speedway (2001 Charleston Hwy., Cayce)

Tickets cost $79 and up and are available at hiddencitymusicfestival.com.