The Gainesville Record Fair had only been open for a couple of minutes Sunday afternoon, but dozens of college students, music fans and collectors were already digging through bins of records.
Music played throughout Cypress & Grove Brewing Co. as vendors from across the state displayed their albums. From jazz to hip-hop to classic rock, hundreds of bins of CDs, records and merchandise filled the rooms.
The semiannual fair has become a recurring part of Gainesville’s music community despite numerous changes throughout the event's decade-long history. From its location to its vendors, the fair has evolved as physical media continues to attract both young music fans and longtime collectors.
When WUFT covered the third iteration of the event in 2015, it was held at The Wooly in downtown Gainesville in partnership with Sunshine Records. Since then, Douglas Bliton took over as organizer and has for the past four years put on the fair at Cypress & Grove Brewing Co..
Bliton said he noticed physical media has become more popular, especially with records and CDs. He said those who grew up with digital music are becoming more interested in collecting something they can physically hold.
“More and more it feels like in this digital age, people are looking for something that they can hold and look at,” Bliton said. “Something that’s tactile and that they relate to and have a physical feel for.”
That interest was visible throughout Sunday’s fair, where young college students browsed next to collectors and vendors of different generations. Bliton said the fair has become a place where people with different musical interests can come together.
“It is definitely a multigenerational event,” Bliton said.
The fair has changed to welcoming vendors from all over the region, from Pensacola to Charleston. Bliton said he gets new vendors as well as returners.
James Reid, a vendor from Orlando, has participated for three years. Reid owns Bynx, a record store, coffee shop, recording studio and event space in downtown Orlando.
He said Gainesville’s college-town environment contributes to the fair’s appeal due to the number of people out in the community on the weekend. He said the fair allows younger people to see physical media even if they don’t have a record player.
“I think it’s cool to give that opportunity to younger kids who definitely didn’t grow up with record players, probably in their house, to have that experience,” Reid said.
University of Florida sophomore Jiya Gohain is a part of that group. She attended the fair for the first time after growing an interest in collecting records.
Gohain, a psychology major from Tampa, said she became interested in records after visiting local stores. She decided to visit the fair after seeing a flyer for it on social media. There, she said the fair had records that caught her attention because of their covers.
“There’s a bunch of very interesting covers that stuck out to me, which I probably wouldn’t have listened to if it was on Spotify itself,” Gohain said.
For Gohain, collecting physical media provides a different experience than streaming music. She said records make the music feel more present and collecting has encouraged her to try new genres that she’s never listened to.
Her experience reflects just one of the changes Bliton has observed as the fair continues to evolve. While veteran collectors are looking for another record to add to their collection, newer collectors are just getting started.
For Reid, that interaction between generations is what makes the fair memorable.
“It can bridge the gap between the old and the young, and the old and the new,” Reid said.
The fair will return to Cypress & Grove Brewing Co. in January 2027.