There have been rumblings about the Eaux Claires Music & Arts Festival — founded by Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and Aaron Dessner of The National — making its return after last filling the Chippeway Valley with creative energy back in 2018. On Tuesday, the seismic activity picked up in a big way, as the festival posted a very pointed teaser on social media.
That’s the festival logo superimposed on the sheet music for “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” Eau Claire-based outlet Volume One posited that the festival may be headed to Carson Park for a potential 2026 comeback. Their report also includes mention of sources “at the top of the Eaux Claires team” saying that the event will return in July.
In Vernon’s trademark enigmatically playful style, the Eaux Claires website is (as of this writing) a bare-bones affair with the festival logo and an entry form for their mailing list. Obviously, it remains to be seen what information will follow should you decide to join said mailing list.
The last installment of Eaux Claires took a wait-and-wait-and-wait-and see approach with the lineup, which wasn’t announced until the first day of the festival itself and included eventual heavy hitters like Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker and Gordi, along with founder-connected acts The National and Big Red Machine. Previous iterations brought other big names to Wisconsin, including Paul Simon, Erykah Badu, Chance the Rapper and Sylvan Esso.
Between the artists who have come to the festival in the past and the many months before the reported return day, we have a lot of time to play guessing games — probably just how the organizers like it.
