Our 8th Carolina Indie Fest is in the books and, like its predecessors, it was amazing. The bands brought the high energy and good vibes to accompany great music & our guests always get high marks from the bands for being engaged and energetic. Dancing, yelling and screaming & singing along are all marks of a guest having a good time, and we enjoyed that in spades. Here are some moments from the event captured by Ben Brown Photography - he does a great job of helping me rel

After an amazing day one we are ready to do it all again! All the usual things apply - $1 fest cups, look at public parking options listed on the bottom of this page before hitting the road, bring a lawn chair and some sun cream. Some new things are afoot today - all new food trucks, bands, Ask a Booth peeps, and some new vendors including dirty sodas, flowers, bread and more. I've made a handy graphic to help you gauge whether you're taking it all in. Hugger Mugger Brewing

Today is a great day for a free music festival, it's day one of our Spring 2026 Carolina Indie Fest! This post will try to summarize everything we got going on and some helpful tips to enjoy your time. * bring a lawn chair for the best seats in the house! Also, check out the festival "day of" page for links to maps of public parking. * that blue cup is the official festival cup. It's $1 and that is a one time fee, just keep getting it filled. Or bring a cup from a past festiv

What did the spider say to the fly? Come find out at the Ask a Booth in the beer garden at Hugger Mugger Brewing Friday night. The Sanford Spinners are a last minute sub in but man we are glad they're joining us - technically joining us AGAIN as we had a grand time with mascots one Indie including Webster, the Spinners mascot. The Ask a Booth is an opportunity to ditch your old friend, the AI ChatBot, and talk with a human being (remember those?) Our innaugural lineup is

Special Indie merch coming your way! Get Under My Skin is making one of a kind wearable Indie Fest themed art pieces using applique techniques on upcycled clothing. You can choose from any of their ready-made garments or customize your own at Marilyn’s flannel bar at Indie. Staff will to cut, iron, and sew your customized shirts while you enjoy your Indie Fest experience. Look for Get Under My Skin in the Hugger Mugger Brewing beer garden next to the double doors each day of

Two great back-to-back interviews with The Southern Brothas and Jo Gore - both new to Carolina Indie Fest and both performing Saturday. Click here to listen. Lots to enjoy here, Jo answered one of Gordon’s questions by breaking out into song and that’s just one fun moment. The history that the Southern Brothas have, and where they’re headed, is likewise super cool. It’s exciting to get to know these great artists before seeing them live on stage.

Grab your sweetie and head over to Carolina Indie Fest where smooches might just win you some bling. Before you start laying on the kisses let's talk deets. How do we turn making out with our sweetie into making out like a bandit? Read on ... Step 1 - Find the selfie booth inside Hugger Mugger Brewing - it's a big red British phone booth in the hallway to the beer garden that currently has a Dan Martin Jewelers sign hanging in it. Step 2 - Steal a kiss and capture it on ca

Every Carolina Indie Fest has a sponsored collaboration beer and family friendly Raven Forge Games in downtown Sanford is our fest beer sponsor for next week's Indie Fest. Their chosen beer? A cherry sour. We love it, makes us say "caw"! Caw caw caw! Here are some pictures from brew day - it's sure not non-stop action on brew day, a lot of waiting on things like water and grain to transfer and water (or wort) temps to rise (or fall). Here's some images to tease your imag

Got a burning question? Maybe the Ask a Booth can help? Born of Lucy's entrepreneurial psychiatric venture in the Peanuts comic strip, the Ask A Booth is a place where you can find expert help on a variety of topics at Indie Fest. For example, Cascade Plumbing will be at the booth from 5-7pm on Saturday, May 16th. Maybe you've got a toilet that won't stop running, or maybe your hot water runs out quicker now than 5yrs ago. Or maybe you want to know what those stains and b

!!!New band alert!!! Goddamn Wolves is joining us on Saturday May 16th at 8:15pm with their fun brand of hard charging indie rock. Check out their deets on our bands page. They are replacing Effing and Blinding whose guitarist is currently stationed in the Middle East and whose deployment was recently extended. All the best to them and to their band member on a safe return home soon.

Get food, beverage, the official Indie Fest cup and access to the best seats in the house for our 8th Carolina Indie Fest on Friday, May 15 (5-10pm) & Saturday, May 16 (2-9pm). VIP tickets are a badge you wear on the date(s) of the event and includes tickets for 3 beverages/day and a buffet spread from Tacos El Primo served at 6pm each evening. Covered VIP seating is located in the brewery with direct view of the stage. Click here to buy tickets. Tickets are priced based on t

Raven Forge Games in downtown Sanford is our festival beer sponsor for Carolina Indie Fest this May 15-16! They’ve selected a cherry sour as their beer of choice, the ingredients are on their way and the beer will be available on draft starting Friday the 15th. If you head over to their socials you can weigh in on how they’re naming the beer. When Indie kicks off in eleven days we are trying something new - a Raven Forge gaming area inside the beer hall under the lights. It’s

There are a lot of ways to support this community music festival - my favorite is just show up! But if you want to lend a hand in making sure this thing keeps on keeping on then here are some possibilities to consider: * VIP tickets get you the best seat in the house and more. We sold out last Sept and then refunded everyone when we pushed the event to May 15-16. Details coming on Monday when we make those available to the public. * shirts - we’ve got ‘em and they have a grea

The Southern Brothas (TSB) perform an innovative mix of modern and classic instrumentation with soulful and deeply cool vocals and lyrics. There’s a lot to talk about here but let’s just mention their set - an Indie first - which will feature a 15-minute set by TSB followed by a 20 minute solo from DJ Nabs then another 15 minute TSB set and closing with a combination of TSB and DJ Nabs performing. It’s an awesome and ambitious concept and I’m excited to them execute it. Oh, a

Guess who's gunning for Carolina Indie Fest? Your favorite company, Ticketmaster, has it's cronies coming after our free independent music festival. Don't believe it? Read on ... You may have seen the recent news about Ticketmaster & it's parent group, Live Nation, being ruled a monopoly by a jury in federal court. Live Nation manages top musical talent and venues. These venues were allegedly obligated to use only Ticketmaster for ticketing. Live Nation was alleged to d

Effing & Blinding joins us on Saturday May 16th at Carolina Indie Fest. There aren’t many high energy rock bands we invite to Indie but Effing and Blinding is like three of them rolled into one. Since their last Indie performance in 2024 I’ve learned that “effing and blinding” is a British/Irish term for shouting and swearing. Not a whole lotta swears with this crew but definitely the term captures the energy they bring to the stage. Looking forward to hearing them with a bee

Some artists have a voice so powerful and alluring it makes you wonder whether it's real. Jo Gore is one of those artists. Her vocals are commanding but also dreamy, almost languorous if it weren't for the power behind them. She will grab your attention and you'll be glad of it! Jo has been around the North Carolina jazz scene for a while now. I spoke with a couple folks active in the scene who were excited to hear she'd be on stage at Indie. While not strictly a jazz singer

One of the great things about Carolina Indie Fest is the smell of cooking food wafting through the crowd throughout the day. I don't have a picture of it but I'm certain I've seen someone lift off their feet, nose in the air Loony Tunes style, and follow the smell of food cooking to a food truck. It could happen to you! We have a different lineup for each day of the event. Here are the trucks that will lift YOU up at Carolina Indie Fest on May 15 & 16. Friday May 15th Cous

This year I looked at how best convey what Carolina Indie Fest is like for people who've not experienced it before. One of the descriptions that keeps cropping up is "barrier free" music experience. So I challenged myself, is it really "barrier free"? How so? For one, it's a free festival and you can literally just wander on in (don't forget a beach chair!) and out. We'd love if you'd shop the vendors or buy a beer but that isn't required of you. In fact, there are no require

Today kicks off the RE-marketing of our 8th Carolina Indie Fest which, as you'll recall, was cancelled due to lightning and storms. Which did not appear. Do'h! We've been waiting patiently, doing some retooling and are BACK with Carolina Indie Fest #8 coming up May 15-16th. What's new? A lot. In fact, half the bands are different from the Fall edition. Somehow in the process we got even awesomer (is that a word?) between now and then. Among the artists new to this edition of