At a time when almost everything is published on a screen, a Florida arts collective is making a case for staplers, photocopies and independent voices.
Before a post could travel around the world in seconds, a great deal of underground culture moved through envelopes, photocopiers and record-shop counters. Zines—usually small, self-produced magazines made without the permission of a publisher—carried band interviews, political arguments, drawings, gossip and whatever else their creators could fit onto a few pages.
That tradition is the focus of HalloZine Fest, returning to Pensacola, Florida, on October 29 and 30. Organized by 309 Punk Project as part of the city’s Foo Foo Festival, the two-day gathering combines a zine marketplace, exhibits, workshops and discussions with music and a Halloween-flavoured social programme.
A culture built outside the gate
Zines were never exclusively punk, but punk helped turn them into an essential form of independent media. If the established music press ignored a new local band, someone could type up an interview, cut out photographs and assemble a publication themselves. The cost was low; the editorial freedom was enormous.
That independence remains their appeal. Printed pages don’t disappear because a platform changes its algorithm, and their makers do not need to translate every idea into something that will reward a scroll. A zine can be clumsy, obsessive, funny, political or intensely local. It can also be all of those at once.
309 Punk Project is an especially fitting host. Founded in 2016, the Pensacola nonprofit began with a house, an archive and a commitment to documenting DIY creativity. It now supports artists, musicians and writers through residencies, events and preservation work, and is marking its tenth anniversary in 2026.
A handmade medium with a future
This year’s HalloZine programme is scheduled at the Voices of Pensacola Multicultural Center. The organizers have announced appearances by illustrator and writer Cristy Road Carrera, Giant Robot co-founder and Razorcake contributor Martin Wong, and artist Bratty Bre. The Linda Lindas are billed for a Halloween-themed afterparty at the Handlebar.
These details make the event more than an exercise in nostalgia. The people involved span different generations and different forms of independent publishing, pointing to the continuing exchange between print culture, music and visual art.
The digital world offers distribution on a scale that early zine-makers could barely imagine. But a handmade publication offers a different kind of connection: something passed from one person to another, often because its creator cared enough to make it exist at all.
Event details: HalloZine Fest, October 29–30, Pensacola, Florida. Sources: 309 Punk Project’s events page; Foo Foo Festival’s October announcement; festival programme information.
Featured photograph: Pizzajono / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Archive photograph from Los Angeles Zine Fest 2017, not the Pensacola event. Image may be cropped for the page layout.
