ATHENS — April 3rd and 4th 2015 marks a weekend of great music, art, and honoring a pair of fallen friends. Athens’s annual AlanFest kicks off tomorrow and this year the event will be especially emotional for the founders.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 4th annual event is put on by the David Alan Lewis foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to the late Athens native and UGA grad. Lewis was killed in 2011 after falling over a waterfall’s edge in Greenville County, South Carolina, just after graduating from the University of Georgia.

The 29-year-old fell attempting to protect his dog during a hike with his girlfriend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enter: Kevin Carlan. Best friend of Lewis and co-founder of the David Alan Lewis Foundation who’s goal is to endow a David Alan Lewis Memorial Scholarship at UGA’s College of Environment and Design. The scholarship receives annual funding from the annual AlanFest, being held this weekend.

But this year, AlanFest will be honoring Carlan, too, who took his own life on March 3rd of this year after suffering from PTSD from years spent in the service.

Personal Photos from Lewis’s fiancé:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Update 12:46 pm: David Alan Lewis Foundation CEO Scott Massey spoke with Reporter Ellen Rittiner.

Update 10:11 am: Reporter Ellen Rittiner sat down with co-founder and fiancé of the late Lewis to talk about how this year is more meaningful.