Gallery: The First Ever E.A.S.T. Fest presented by Kona Big Wave & Vans
Energy. Art. Space. Time. (+Love.)
All photos by Jimmicane and Julian Martin
Do you love surfing?
Do you love yapping about surfing? Do you love doing those things with others who also emphatically love doing them? Then would’ve loved E.A.S.T. Fest, hosted this weekend by our friends at Kona Big Wave and Vans at the Palm Springs Surf Club.
Yesterday, under the presiding Palm Springs sun, we uncorked Stab’s inaugural celebration of all things wave-riding – shapers, surfers, and hundreds of emphatic onlookers convened at PSSC for E.A.S.T Fest 1.0. From the time the sun’s glow reached the San Jacinto mountains to well after it retired behind their gentle shoulders, everyone in attendance had gorged themselves on surfboards, music, art, and all the beautiful idiosyncrasies they bring into our lives.
It was, in short, a day.
A day for culture, considering the lengths many of us go to ride these quick-lived bursts of energy. A day for community, which is what the hundreds of attendees hanging, hydrating and splashing merrily in the turquoise water resembled. A day for love. A day for experimentation. A day for the whole family (and a few beers thereafter).
On a scorching Sunday in Palm Springs, heroes and villains of the E.A.S.T. universe collided to create a wonderful friction. The VIP area overflowed with some of the world’s most beloved board-builders, both alternative and traditional – all alumni of the franchise present and past. Dozens of spacecraft-like shapes, carefully cradled by Living in Sunshine’s smart carriers, stood waxed up and ready for the sampling. Icons, iconoclasts, young bloods, and E.A.S.T. entrants present and past chatted with buzzy Premium members for hours on end.
After a shaper’s dozen of pool sessions, where ticket holders got to trade waves with the likes of Mason Ho, Rosy Hodge, Jaleesa Vincent, Tosh Tudor, Mikey February, and a ridiculous lineup of other taste-makers in and out of the water, the energy shifted from the west side of PSSC to east.
Sundown signaled the second portion of the festival lineup, including Al Knost’s latest acid trip of a cinematic offering – Choice Glance – as well as a sneak peek of Mikey Feb’s first E.A.S.T. drop, all screened poolside. Between the screenings, the airwaves rattled with the sounds of Grady Strange, Rio Kosta, and the Allah-Las.
By the time the moon made its entrance, the crowd had converged as one large, sun-silly organism, swaying under an inky night sky.
In a time when the surfing industrial complex is said to be fading, struggling, or otherwise “in a weird place”, September 28th, 2025 will forever be proof that the kids are doing just fine, despite what any financial forecast or industry naysayer may say.
