Totem Carriers: The Heroes of EDC Orlando 2015

It takes a certain amount of dedication to hold your totem high for hours on end for all to see, and for that, totem carriers of EDC Orlando, we salute you. You are the glue that holds rave families together. We decided to stop a few folks to ask what their totems were all about.

“The idea came to me in a dream after I watched the debate. I’ll probably vote for Donald Trump, but I’m not 100 percent sure yet.” —Shannon (Orlando, FL)

“I really have no idea how I came up with this idea. I love Tyrannosaurus Rexes. So, I guess this represents me—it’s lit. It took me about four hours to make. I just used some PVC pipe and a yardstick. It was super simple to make and the first one I’ve done. —Sergio (Miami, FL)

“All my friends were sending me all these Drake memes—Pokémon, the Star Wars light saber, the pizza one—and thought it would be a hilarious totem to make, if I could make his arm swing. It only took me about an hour to make. The hardest part was figuring out what the thing was called to make his arm swing. I googled it, and that was that. This is the second totem that I’ve made; the first one was of Lumpy Space Princess from Adventure Time that I took to EDC Orlando last year. I really just wanted people to see it and smile and make them laugh. I’m really happy that a lot of people saw this and wanted to take pictures with me; it’s made the weekend a little more fun.” —Kimberly (Miami, FL)

“I came to EDC Orlando with like 25 people and needed something to keep our group together, so I made this special for the show. It really works, too; our friends would take off to the bathroom, or go get a drink or something, and they find us without any problems. I did something similar last year for EDC. This one is made from a cylinder used to make concrete columns, but it’s made from cardboard and it’s super lightweight. I just slapped some LED lights on, cut out a few glow-in-the-dark skull posters. It was easy to put together; it took me about two days—not bad at all.” —Romero (Orlando, FL)

“I wanted something that brought back my childhood and decided to make this. I’m a gamer, I’m a nerd, and I love playing Crash Bandicoot. I played it all the time for like six years until my PlayStation broke, which probably happened because I played the game so much.” —Mike (Orlando, FL)

“We love Bassnectar, and bass music is one of our absolute favorites—and obviously this is EDC Orlando, an Insomniac event—so we had to represent. My boyfriend and I made this together. He made the letters out of kandi, and I made the perler daisy, EDC and Insomniac logo. Between work and school and stuff, it took about a week to put together. We didn’t bring it yesterday because we were worried it would get broken and wanted it in good shape for Bassnectar tonight. It’s the first totem we’ve ever made—I think it came out pretty awesome. Random people have been coming up to us all day.” —Destiny (Phoenix, AZ)

“I made this special for EDC Orlando. I was just trying to think of who I could put on a pole that no one else would have, so I turned Rick Ross into Rave Ross.” —James (Miami, FL)

“I see people with totems at shows and always wanted to bring one. I thought about what I could do that would be meaningful to share with people, so I came up with the Yin and Yang idea because balance is crucial in life—it’s something everyone should know. And then there’s the smiley face, because I’ve always been known for that. And happiness. Then a peace sign, because you know: Peace, Love, Unity and Respect. I included the butterfly because I love them so much. —Anna (Orlando, FL)

“I made this for Moonrise Festival back in August, based on this Vine that I saw in July. It’s just this girl dancing to “Take Me On” that’s super funny. I had to go to Office Depot and fill out a form just to blow up the image, and then I went to Michaels to get the foam part and just taped it on with duct tape. This is the second festival I’ve taken it to.” —Noah (Palm Beach, FL)

“My grandma, Virginia, passed away last year right before TomorrowWorld, so I made this while she was sick. Unfortunately, she never had the opportunity to join me at a festival, but I like to think that she would really enjoy this and that it would open her eyes to a lot.” —Press (Orlando, FL)

Check out the full totem gallery from EDC Orlando.

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