The Week's Top 10 Stories + Future of Festivals

What’s new and next in festivals? It’s all about safe, curated experiences. And top-notch food. And watching a DJ in a glacier.

It’s summer and festival season is upon us. Time to get your gear together, check out the lineups and decide what you want to see and where (and wear!).

Every year it seems, there’s a new kind of festival vying for our attention — from music and technology to craft beer to cheese curls. But as the number of options increases and the experiences get wilder or more niche, it can be tough deciding how to map out your season vibes. Your best bet: Look for what you like and roll with it.

But if you want to know what’s new and next at fests, grab something glittery and read on. From the rise of foodie events and micro festivals to new ways of ensuring your experience is happy, healthy and harm-free, here is a peek at what the future of festivals looks like.

Food festivals are growing — and becoming impossible for music event organizers to ignore.

When attendees flock to BottleRock festival in Napa Valley, they aren’t just paying to hear music. No, the $500 ticket comes with another perk: seeing their favorite musical acts cook, with everyone from shock rock legend Alice Cooper to Atlanta rapper Big Boi delivering dishes from center stage with celebrity chefs such as Padma Lakshmi and Trisha Yearwood.

That’s no coincidence. Food is driving festivals like never before. Food and drink festivals grew 26 percent in 2018 compared to the year before, according to ticketing giant Eventbrite. And a national survey of 2,000 people conducted by the company in May found that more than half of Americans now consider themselves foodies. In the U.K., more than 25 million people said they wanted to attend a food festival in 2015, according to data compiled by the Food Festival Finder directory — a number nearing the 30 million people who attended British music festivals in 2016.

This sparkly coat-backpack is designed to keep fest-goers warm at night and cool (and organized) by day.

Summertime means festival time, and music lovers have plenty to choose from — including our very own OZY Fest in Central Park, July 20-21. Just over half of all Americans will attend a live music event this year, according to Nielsen. While it’s easy to get swept away with the crowd when blissing out to beats from the Strokes or Ariana … it’s not so easy to find where you left your stuff when the set is over. Carrying a jacket hampers those dance moves, but without one, you’ll get chilly when night falls (#firstworldproblems).

Luckily, some ingenious inventors have been tackling this issue — and other festival-related problems, such as drug testing. After one too many frosty festival evenings, 30-year-old Rachelle Sloss came up with a solution for those who get cold and don’t “want to be weighed down by stuff,” she says. Her idea: a coat-backpack hybrid.