Hudson River Music Festival, photo by Scott Harris
Mark your calendars: the Hudson River Music Festival has announced its return in 2026.
After a triumphant debut last June, the beloved upstate event sustaining the legacy of Toshi and Pete Seeger’s folk picnics will present its second-annual staging at Croton, N.Y.’s scenic riverfront Croton Point Park on June 21. The single-day celebration will once again be presented in partnership by Riverfest FPS (For Pete’s Sake), Dayglo Presents and the Harper House Music Foundation, keeping music, activism and a community focus at its heart.
In 2025, the inaugural Hudson River Music Festival hosted an all-star lineup spanning the worlds of jam, folk, jazz, alt-rock, country and more, led by the Grahame Lesh & Friends supergroup with Rick Mitarotonda, Oteil Burbridge, Rob Barraco, Jennifer Hartswick and Dawes’ Taylor and Griffin Goldsmith. Other unforgettable sets came from Jorma Kaukonen, Lucius, Madison Cunningham, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Steve Earle & Friends, featuring sit-ins from Kaukonen, Eli Smith, Laura Cantrell, Amram and more.
In the spirit of the Seegers’ ‘60s gatherings, which brought some of the region’s greatest folk talents to the bank of the Hudson to raise funds for the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Hudson River Music Festival promotes environmental justice through a zero-waste commitment and educational initiatives. The artists’ and activists’ memories live on in the Pete & Toshi’s Grove area, which honors the festival’s inspirations with a peaceful, empowering reprieve from the action.
Learn more about the Hudson River Music Festival at hudsonrivermusicfestival.com. Get an inside look at last year’s event in the “Revisiting the Hudson River Music Festival” from the July-August 2025 issue of Relix.
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