WILMINGTON — An area near downtown Wilmington gaining popularity for hosting a social district pilot program over the first three weekends in February has announced a new music festival coning to Wilmington this summer.
BAD Music and Arts Festival is scheduled to take place July 12. There will be immersive art, multiple bands performing various genres on two outdoor stages and more.
Railroad Earth, Yonder Mountain String Band, and Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country are the bands announced so far from Does Entertainment. Tickets go sale Feb. 28.
New Jersey’s Railroad Earth was founded 24 years ago, based on Jack Kerouac’s famed poem, “October in the Railroad Earth.” They perform bluegrass and progressive folk rock in the jamband vein.
Joining them will be Colorado’s bluegrass-Americana musicians Yonder Mountain String Band, who scored a Grammy nomination for Best Bluegrass Album for 2023’s “Get Yourself Outside.”
Donato’s Cosmic Country takes on Nashville’s honky tonk sound but also includes improvisations.
Aside from music, there will be a festival village featuring arts and crafts vendors, live mural painting and a wellness area, offering yoga. The festival includes a tribute to the area’s film industry as well and area food and beverage vendors will be set up, plus restaurants and bars along Fourth Street will be open.
The district just wrapped its pilot program for a social district, which allows participants to carry alcoholic beverage freely along 10 blocks of the Brooklyn Arts District within the timeframe of noon to 5 p.m. The pilot program was brought forward to city council by BAD business owners, with the goal to assess its permanency. There is no word yet when it may go back before council, though Brooklyn Cafe owner Tara English told Port City Daily in December the goal was to have a social district in place for all BAD events.
This includes the area’s most popular Alt-Zalea Festival, which draws in 2,000 people to the district each April, as well as the BAD Coffee Crawl, which was hosted the first weekend in February.
Learn more about BAD Day Music and Arts Festival and tickets here.
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