Centerfest Music Festival

08/31/2026

Ballyhoo didn’t just sponsor Centerfest this year… they understood the assignment. 😎🔥

From helping make one ridiculously good day of live music possible to making sure you could leave wearing proof that YES, YOU WERE THERE, Ballyhoo showed up BIG for Centerfest 2026.

And here’s the really fun part:
Didn’t grab merch?
Grabbed merch but now regret not getting another thing?
Want your Centerfest gear customized exactly how you want it?
You can STILL order and customize Centerfest merchandise online through Ballyhoo POST-festival. 🙌

Because apparently festival merch regret is a real condition, and thankfully Ballyhoo has the cure.

Huge love to the entire Ballyhoo crew for believing in this little festival with a very big attitude — and helping us bring BIG MUSIC to Central Montana.

Shop + customize your Centerfest gear here:
https://www.ballyhooprinting.com

08/28/2026

These photos SCREAM the part of Centerfest people don’t always see: the gate crew is basically the festival’s opening act.

Wristbands flying. Questions answered. Tickets scanned. Bags checked. Lines MOVING. And somehow, while hundreds of people are arriving at once, these humans are smiling, laughing and setting the tone for the whole dang day.
Good vibes only. Literally. It’s their job.

A HUGE thank you to our gate volunteers year after year. You’re the first Centerfest faces people see, and you absolutely crush it. We could not do this without you. 💛

And because we’re already getting the “OKAY BUT WHEN DO WE FIND OUT ABOUT 2027?!” messages...
🎟️ Early Bird BLIND tickets drop this winter.
🎶 2027 lineup + additional tickets drop in the spring.
Yes, that means Early Bird buyers once again have to trust us without knowing who’s playing. Those are limited and sold out in a matter of hours last year!

Which is either confidence in our booking abilities... or mildly reckless behavior.
We support both.
Centerfest 2027 • August 7 • Lewistown, Montana
Small town. BIG MUSIC.
🎬 Stone City
🎥 Ember Marketing Group // Billings Best Marketing
📸 Kyle Trafton Photography

08/25/2026

There are a whole lot of reasons we love Centerfest.

The music, obviously. The artists. The food. The vendors. The fact that for one day every year our little corner of Montana gets wonderfully, gloriously LOUD.
But then we get the photos back… and realize this is actually our favorite part.
The people. ❤️

Tiny festival-goers hydrating like seasoned professionals.
Friends finding whatever shade they can and claiming it as prime real estate.
People dancing, laughing, melting, improvising parasols and generally refusing to let Mother Nature’s decision to set the thermostat somewhere near the surface of the sun ruin their day.

Thanks for showing up. Thanks for rolling with the heat. Thanks for dancing. Thanks for laughing. Thanks for bringing your kids, your parents, your friends, your ridiculous hats, your tiny umbrellas and apparently whatever cooling device you could get your hands on.
See you August 7, 2027.
📸 Kyle Trafton Photography
🎥 Ember Marketing Group // Billings Best Marketing
🎬 Stone City

08/22/2026

Remember, you can still order yourself one of the EXTRA SOFT festival hoodies!

Order online from Ballyhoo // https://www.ballyhooprinting.com
artwork by Gilfalo Art Design

08/22/2026

Order https://share.google/8cyy69KRxrsaqGfYm

08/21/2026

There was a legitimate problem during Taimane’s set at Centerfest:

WHO EXACTLY WERE WE SUPPOSED TO BE WATCHING?!
Taimane was casually making an ʻukulele do things we’re still fairly certain are illegal.

Then you’d look over and the guitar was 🔥.

Then the cajón.

Then THE DANCER.

Then back to Taimane and somehow you’d missed another completely ridiculous thing happening.

Basically, this entire set required about four sets of eyeballs.
And that beautiful lei you see here?

After the set, Taimane and her team gifted one to our festival director—an incredibly special ending to a set we already weren’t going to forget.

This. THIS is why we love bringing music to Centerfest that you may not have seen coming.
More of this, please. 🤘🌺
🎬Stone City
🎥Ember Marketing Group // Billings Best Marketing
📸Kyle Trafton Photography

08/20/2026

08/20/2026

THIS WOMAN RIGHT HERE.
Meet Cathy Barta, Centerfest’s Volunteer Safety Coordinator, radio-wielding problem solver and one of the humans quietly making sure the rest of us survive festival day.

What you see: Cathy smiling, checking on people, keeping everyone safe and—this year—helping us navigate 106° of absolutely unnecessary Montana nonsense.

What you don’t see: the MONTHS of planning, meetings, emergency prep, problem-solving and approximately 7,492 “Okay, but what if…” conversations that happen before the gates ever open.

She is an absolute gift to this festival. 🧡
And something you might not know: our ENTIRE festival team is still volunteer/committee based. Even the production team working year-round to build Centerfest is unpaid and 100% volunteer.

We do this because we believe our little town deserves BIG music—and people like Cathy are why we can. Want to join this slightly unhinged group of humans?
DM us. We might even give you a radio.
🎬Stone City
🎥Ember Marketing Group // Billings Best Marketing
📸Kyle Trafton Photography

08/19/2026

IT’S TIME TO PICK A FAVORITE.
We know. It’s rude. It’s basically asking you to pick a favorite child, except these children are wildly talented musicians and none of them need you to pay for college.
Every year after Centerfest, we ask YOU which performance absolutely owned your day.

Why? Because we keep the receipts. 👀
We tally your votes every year, and whenever we can, we try to bring a past Crowd Favorite back to Centerfest. So yes… your completely unscientific yelling in the comments actually matters.
So, CENTERFEST 2026 — WHO WON YOUR HEART?
🎺 Tuba Skinny
🌺 Taimane
🔥 Too Many Zooz
🎸 KT Tunstall
⚡ Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue
Were you dancing? Crying? Questioning how THAT much sound came out of three people? Suddenly considering buying a ukulele? Did Trombone Shorty permanently rearrange your internal organs?
DROP YOUR FAVORITE PERFORMANCE BELOW. 👇
One vote. One artist.
And yes, we are absolutely keeping score.
📸 Kyle Trafton Photography
🎥 Ember Marketing Group // Billings Best Marketing
🎬 Stone City