Franklin County Maine Under the Oaks Music Festival
Late August in Farmington brings two days of folk music to a riverside amphitheater, hosted by the very band that calls the town home. The Under the Oaks Music Festival takes place at the Whistle Stop Concert Series Amphitheater in Narrow Gauge Square, where the Sandy River runs close by and campers pitch tents on the grounds. GoldenOak, the Farmington indie-folk band fronted by siblings Zak and Lena Kendall, hosts the event, and the bill mixes the band’s own sets with guest acts across Friday evening and Saturday. Around the music sit workshops, mushroom foraging, yoga, and a pancake breakfast served by the band, so the weekend reads as a small, hands-on folk gathering rather than a concert dropped into a field. The fourth year fell on August 28–29, 2026, the previous edition ran August 29–30, 2025, and the next edition is announced for August 27–28, 2027.
About
The Under the Oaks Music Festival is a two-day folk festival in Farmington, the county seat of Franklin County, Maine. Its home is the Whistle Stop Concert Series Amphitheater in Narrow Gauge Square, an outdoor stage beside the Sandy River, and its host is GoldenOak, an indie-folk band from Farmington fronted by siblings Zak and Lena Kendall. The band does more than headline: the festival is their gathering, built around the music they play and the community that has grown up around it, with the hosts cooking breakfast for the crowd and leading the weekend from the stage and the campground alike.
A festival day runs from afternoon into evening. Saturday begins at two in the afternoon, with sets rolling through the day and GoldenOak closing the night, while Friday is a shorter, separate VIP show with doors at five. Between the sets, the weekend offers workshops, mushroom foraging, yoga, and a pancake breakfast served by the band, so visitors can stay inside the festival from the first note to the last. The scale stays modest and the pace unhurried: the audience, the hosts, and the campground overlap, and a conversation with a neighbour at breakfast can turn into a shared afternoon at the stage.
Quick Facts
| Detail | Information |
| Festival | Under the Oaks Music Festival, also called Under the Oaks |
| Host town | Farmington, the county seat of Franklin County |
| Venue | Whistle Stop Concert Series Amphitheater, Narrow Gauge Square |
| Hosts | GoldenOak, the Farmington indie-folk band fronted by Zak and Lena Kendall |
| 2026 edition | Fourth year, August 28–29, 2026 |
| 2025 edition | August 29–30, 2025 |
| Next announced edition | August 27–28, 2027 |
| Admission | Ticketed; no price is stated in the layers read |
| Programme | Folk music, workshops, camping, mushroom foraging, yoga, band-served pancake breakfast |
| Setting | Amphitheater grounds along the Sandy River |
History
No founding year is stated in the layers read for the Under the Oaks Music Festival, and none should be worked out from the billings that are printed. What the layers do give is a clear run of editions. The 2026 festival is billed as year four, and it took place on August 28–29 of that year. The edition before it ran August 29–30, 2025, and the edition after it is already announced for August 27–28, 2027. Together, those three dates show a young festival settling into a late-August rhythm.
The festival grew out of GoldenOak itself. The band is from Farmington, fronted by siblings Zak and Lena Kendall, and its home ground is the town where the festival now takes place. A band-hosted festival carries a different shape from one run by a distant promoter: the hosts are on stage, in the campground, and at the breakfast table, and the event reflects their taste in folk music and their sense of what a weekend in Farmington should feel like. The Whistle Stop Concert Series Amphitheater in Narrow Gauge Square gives that idea a fixed address, a stage beside the Sandy River where the band and its guests play to an audience that stays close, and where camping keeps the crowd together after the music ends.
For a useful comparison, see the Cumberland County Maine Oyster Festival for another county festival.
Each edition has added a little weight to the record. The 2025 edition, held August 29–30, established the two-day shape that the 2026 edition repeated. The 2026 edition, the fourth year, added a Friday VIP show that sold out, a sign that demand for the smaller Friday evening was already outrunning the room. The announcement of the 2027 edition for August 27–28 shows the festival looking forward. There is no long origin story in the layers; the history of Under the Oaks is that of a young, local festival finding its footing year by year in its own town.
What to Expect
Friday opens the weekend with a VIP show, doors at five in the evening. The 2026 bill featured Randy Miles and GoldenOak, with GoldenOak on stage at eight, and the show sold out, which says something about how quickly word has spread. Friday is the shorter night, a single evening for a smaller crowd, closer to a concert among friends than a festival main stage.
Saturday is the full day. Music begins at two in the afternoon, and the 2026 bill included Bee Parks and the Hornets alongside GoldenOak, with GoldenOak closing at eight-thirty in the evening. Guest acts lead into the hosts’ evening set as the amphitheater fills, and the Sandy River setting keeps the day outdoors from start to finish. The campground means the audience does not scatter when the last set ends.
Between the sets, the weekend offers more than music. Workshops give visitors a chance to learn rather than only listen. Mushroom foraging walks take small groups into the woods around Farmington, a quiet counterpoint to the stage. Yoga sessions offer a slow start to the day, and the band-served pancake breakfast puts the hosts behind a griddle instead of a microphone. These details make the festival feel like a gathering rather than a schedule: the same people who play the songs also serve the breakfast, and the same ground that holds the stage also holds the tents.
Planning Your Visit
Tickets are the first thing to sort out. The festival is ticketed, and no price is stated in the layers read, so the cost of entry has to be checked against the ticketing layer for the edition you plan to attend. The Friday VIP show sold out in 2026, so anyone set on Friday should buy early rather than counting on a ticket at the gate. Saturday is the main draw, and the same advice holds: a small festival with a sold-out Friday is one whose tickets do not linger.
Camping is part of the weekend, with tents pitched on the grounds along the Sandy River. Bring the gear for a riverside camp in late August in Maine: a tent, a warm sleeping bag, and layers for evenings that turn chilly once the sun drops. The amphitheater is outdoors, so rain gear is worth packing even if the forecast looks kind, and sturdy shoes suit the ground. Farmington, the county seat, has the shops, fuel, and food a camper might need, and arriving with supplies in hand saves a trip back into town.
The festival runs Friday evening and Saturday, so a visitor can arrive Friday afternoon, catch the VIP show, camp overnight, and spend all of Saturday on site. The pancake breakfast served by the band is one of the weekend’s small pleasures, and it is worth being up for. Leave time to walk Narrow Gauge Square and the riverbank between sets; the setting is half the point, and the grounds reward a slow look around.
A Sample Itinerary
Arrive in Farmington on Friday afternoon and settle into the campground along the Sandy River before the evening begins. Doors for the Friday VIP show open at five, and the 2026 bill put Randy Miles on before GoldenOak took the stage at eight. Stay for the whole evening, then walk back to your tent through the quiet grounds.
Saturday begins slowly. Yoga and the band-served pancake breakfast ease the campground awake, and a mushroom foraging walk or a workshop can fill the late morning. Music begins at two in the afternoon, and the day builds through the guest sets toward the evening. In 2026, Bee Parks and the Hornets played before GoldenOak closed the festival at eight-thirty. Stay for the closing set, then spend a last night under the trees before packing up in the morning.
How It Compares
A large folk festival can feel like a small city, with stages spread across fields, long walks between sets, and a crowd that turns over by the hour. Under the Oaks is the opposite shape. The whole weekend fits inside one amphitheater and its campground, the hosts are the band you came to hear, and the audience stays put from Friday to Saturday night. The difference is closeness: at a large festival, the performers are distant figures on a far stage, while here the same musicians who close Saturday night serve breakfast in the morning.
The programme also sets it apart. Many music weekends offer little beyond the stage, but Under the Oaks pairs its sets with workshops, mushroom foraging, yoga, and camping on the grounds, so the hours between performances have their own texture. The foraging walks and yoga belong to the Maine woods and the riverside setting as much as the music does. For a visitor choosing between a big-name folk weekend and a small band-hosted gathering, the choice comes down to what matters more: the breadth of a large bill, or the feeling of spending a weekend inside one band’s world.
Checklist
- Buy tickets early, especially for the Friday VIP show, which sold out in 2026
- Check the ticketing layer for the current edition’s prices, since no price is stated in the layers read
- Bring a tent, a warm sleeping bag, and layers for cool August evenings by the river
- Pack rain gear and sturdy shoes for outdoor amphitheater grounds
- Arrive Friday afternoon to settle into the campground before doors open at five
- Plan to stay for the band-served pancake breakfast and the morning yoga session
- Leave time for a mushroom foraging walk or a workshop between sets
- Stock up on supplies in Farmington, the county seat, before heading to the grounds
Beyond the Festival
Farmington rewards a longer stay. As the county seat of Franklin County, it is a working town with a main street, shops, and places to eat, set where rivers, woods, and small farms shape the landscape. The Sandy River, which runs beside the grounds, is worth a walk on its own, and the country around town offers quiet roads and trailheads for a slow Sunday drive after the tents come down.
The wider region holds the same mix of water and woods that the festival leans on. A visitor with an extra day can follow the river, look for trailheads in the hills around town, or spend a morning in Farmington itself, getting a feel for the place GoldenOak calls home. The festival is rooted in this town in a way a touring event never is, and seeing Farmington outside the festival hours helps explain why the weekend feels the way it does.
Why It Matters
A band-hosted festival is a small act of community building, and Under the Oaks is a clear example. GoldenOak did not wait for a promoter to bring a folk weekend to Farmington; the band built one in its own town, on a stage beside the river, and invited its audience to camp, forage, practice yoga, and eat breakfast together. That keeps music local in a real sense: the money, the attention, and the memories stay in Farmington, and the festival gives the town a late-August occasion of its own.
The festival also matters because of its scale. In its fourth year in 2026, with the next edition already announced for 2027, it has grown steadily without losing the closeness that defines it. A sold-out Friday VIP show shows demand, but the weekend has not chased size at the cost of character. That balance is the point: a folk festival that belongs to its town, hosted by its own band, and open to anyone willing to pitch a tent by the Sandy River and listen.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I camp at the festival, and where do campers stay?
Yes, camping is part of the weekend. Campers pitch tents on the grounds along the Sandy River, close to the amphitheater in Narrow Gauge Square, so the audience stays on site from Friday evening through Saturday night.
What makes the Friday show different from Saturday?
Friday is a separate VIP show with doors at five and a smaller bill; in 2026 it featured Randy Miles and GoldenOak, with GoldenOak on stage at eight, and it sold out. Saturday is the full festival day, with music from two in the afternoon and GoldenOak closing at eight-thirty.
Are there activities besides the music?
Yes. The programme includes workshops, mushroom foraging walks, yoga sessions, camping on the grounds, and a pancake breakfast served by the band, all running alongside the stage schedule and giving the weekend its unhurried, hands-on character.
When will the next edition after 2026 take place?
The next edition is announced for August 27–28, 2027, per the organiser’s own layer. The 2026 edition, the fourth year, ran August 28–29, and the 2025 edition ran August 29–30, so the festival has kept its late-August place.
What to Expect From the Next Franklin County Maine Under the Oaks Music Festival
How often is Franklin County Maine Under the Oaks Music Festival held?
The festival has run in late August in each year the layers document, with editions in 2025 and 2026 and the next announced for August 27–28, 2027. That pattern points to a yearly late-August gathering, the exact weekend set by the organiser for each edition.
When is the next Franklin County Maine Under the Oaks Music Festival?
The next edition is announced for August 27–28, 2027, per the organiser’s own layer. It follows the fourth-year edition of August 28–29, 2026, and the 2025 edition of August 29–30, keeping the festival in its familiar last-weekend-of-August place.
Will the dates change?
The dates have shifted slightly from year to year while staying in late August: August 29–30 in 2025, August 28–29 in 2026, and August 27–28 announced for 2027. A small shift within the same weekend of the month is the pattern so far, and the announced dates are the ones to plan around, checked against the organiser’s own layer as the summer approaches.
The Under the Oaks Music Festival is a small, band-hosted folk weekend in Farmington, and its charm lies in that smallness: two days of music at a riverside amphitheater, a campground full of neighbours, and a band that cooks breakfast for the crowd it plays for. Come for the songs, stay for the morning, and leave with a weekend that belonged to the town as much as to the stage.
