With the sun shining and the snow melting, this weekend was a special one for Eau Claire residents. The temperature reaching over 50 degrees called for exploring the town.

Saturday was Record Store Day across the U.S. Different record stores all over the nation participated in Record Day to help revitalize vinyl sales after a dip in sales in the early to mid 2000s.

Eau Claire’s very own record store, Revival Records, played its part this weekend by holding an event at the store with a live DJ and exclusive releases that are only available at local record stores.

Revival Records’ store owner Billy Siegel said he has been participating in this nationwide event since he opened in 2009. Siegel said Record Store Day is a way to help keep a dying industry alive.

“The event, all over the nation as well as here in Eau Claire, is full of limited edition (things) that you have to be a brick-and-mortar record store in order to get,” said Siegal. This idea that kick-started Record Store Day back in 2007 was a success.

Vinyl and record players are back in the mainstream of American teens, making the once obsolete vinyls trendy again, according to Pitchfork. Urban Outfitters, longtime trendsetting establishment, has been selling record players and new-age classic vinyl as well as shelves to hold all of these items.

Independent shops all over the nation — like Revival Records — are coming together to sell pristine classics such as Frank Sinatra, alongside the new, such as the award-winning original soundtrack of The Greatest Showman.

“With technology today and everything being at the push of a button, having something analog is nostalgic,” Siegel said. “Spinning vinyl is more of an experience.”

On Saturday, a group of UW-Eau Claire students walked around exploring the different records on display. Riley Ostroude attended Record Store Day to look at all of the retro tapes and records. He said that listening to the different types of music in Revival Records is just a part of the downtown experience.

“(Record Day) brings back that culture, you know there was a time when (vinyl) wasn’t all that popular,” Osterude said. “This store in general brings that back to everyone’s everyday lives.”

Community members Elyssa Larson and Lauren French were on the search for their records of choice: Etta James, Joan Baez and John Denver.

Larson said there could not have been a better weekend for this event, with its warm weather beating the snowstorm the previous weekend

“Billy got the perfect weekend,” she said.

With the weather as inviting as the event itself, Siegel was more than happy with the turnout.

“The line went down and around the block this morning,” Siegel said, “and the weather … I could not have asked for anything better.”
Larson and French agreed that having this establishment in town has been a nice addition to Eau Claire and its ever-present music scene.

“I think it is absolutely wonderful to have somewhere local where we can go that is not in the Twin Cities, but here in Eau Claire specifically.” Larson said. “What Billy has built here is really great.”