One girl with shoulder-length, dirty blonde hair slumps back in a wooden chair and rests her head on its back. She lazily twirls her golden locks through her fingers and stares out the window, seemingly disinterested in the band on stage.

In front of the stage, mounted upon a bar stool, a young man in a navy blue sweatshirt is nodding his head in rhythm to the music, tapping his right foot against the metal rung on the stool. He is enjoying this particular performance.

As 16 bands took turns gracing the stage of People’s Bar & Grill, 2428 Lincoln Way, for Sunday’s all-day event, Togetherfest III, about 100 people looked on — either interested or disinterested — from the crowd. Not only does the music festival bring together local bands of countless genres, but also music fans of varying tastes. If one band didn’t whet a particular onlooker’s musical palate, another band of another style would be playing 40 minutes later.

Argos, a five-piece indie rock band, took the stage after 8 p.m.

The crowd is nearly as energetic as the band itself. The most movement comes from the bass player, who methodically bobs his head as he shifts his weight back and forth rhythmically from his left foot to his right foot. The singer, a strawberry blond in a long-sleeved, thick-striped blue and white shirt, rocks from side to side, effortlessly singing his raspy vocals into the microphone, gently shaking a tambourine.

Though the keyboard-supplemented melodies are well-executed, the stage performance is less than arousing. The audience sits quietly on stools, only a few are standing and none of them are standing in front of the stage.

The set ends close to 8:40 p.m. Justin Means, the event’s organizer, speaks between every set, perpetually reminding the crowd that what they’ve just witnessed is only a sample of the local music in Ames. Only 16 bands will play by the end of the event, and more than 30 didn’t make the bill.

“This is local music at its finest today,” Means says. “This is just a small part of the scene.”

A different point of view

It’s 8:51 p.m. Upstairs the next band, Driving While Stupid, begins. From Lumpy’s, a set of stairs and a door away from the action, almost all of the words are perfectly audible. The ceiling is pounding as hordes of people jump heavily on the floor of the venue above.

At 9:03 p.m., Means makes his way down to the less-than-immaculate dive bar underneath People’s. There are nine customers in Lumpy’s. One of them is Means. With wavy shoulder-length brown hair and a neatly trimmed beard, Means slides onto a stool in front of the bar. His long-sleeved, button-down shirt is rolled up to his elbows as he sits swirling his straw in a tan-colored mixed drink.

Means has been at People’s since noon and has had more than 15 drinks by this point. By 9:09 p.m., Means has returned to People’s to observe the energetic ska ensemble on stage.

DWS has eight members, four of whom make up a horn section of a saxophone, a trumpet and two trombones. The lead vocalist bounces around the stage clad in sunglasses and a costume. It’s not exactly clear what the brown animal disguise is supposed to be. One trombonist is wearing sunglasses and the trumpet player is wearing a sleep mask. As he energetically spouts his lyrics, the lead vocalist bends down, flexes his bicep and kisses it.

The audience is feeding off this energy as 15 people crowd in front of the stage. Five decide to join together to skank in a small circle, a dance common to ska music.

As the set ends at about 9:20 p.m., Means again returns to the stage, evidently more inebriated, with his slurred demeanor and his lengthened rant about “government-regulated radio” and his plea to “listen to KURE” and “get off your asses and out of your dorm room to support local music.”

“I’m drunk,” Means says. “I’ve been here all damn day.”

Further down the stretch

Between bands, local DJs spin records to keep the masses entertained.

At 9:27 p.m., Closer takes the stage. With obvious influences such as Better Than Ezra, the Gin Blossoms and Dishwalla, the local four-piece brings its well-received pop music to an enthusiastic crowd. The crowd is sitting down again, though this time there is a considerable number of people nodding their heads along to the music as well as tapping out the melody on the bar tables.

“How are we doing on time? Justin?” asks the lead vocalist as he scans the room.

“I don’t know. I’m drunk,” Means bellows from behind the crowd.

Two tunes later, Closer finishes up its set and Means again returns to the microphone.

“Today kids got off their asses and left their dorm rooms,” Means says. “Next week kids will be complaining: ‘We have nothing to do in Ames, Iowa, blah blah blah.’ It’s 4:20, if you know what I mean. Nectar is next so go outside and make your minds right, if you know what I mean.”

Nectar sets up its gear, and begins at about 10:20 p.m. — right on schedule. Means staggers on stage to introduce the band members and to thank the new crowd that has rotated into the venue.

“Like I said, 4:20,” Means reminds. “You know what I’m talking about.”

Only about 75 people remain for the melodic rock music of Nectar a la Stone Temple Pilots, though new people will continue to rotate in throughout the night.

By the end of the night Aaron Scherer, junior in psychology, will have spent roughly 10 hours off and on at People’s.

“It’s cool how you get all the local bands together,” Scherer says. “It’s an opportunity to see bands you like as well as new bands.”

Togetherfest III, through Means’ eyes, is a success and he is organizing another for bands that didn’t make this bill for February.