Hunterdon County’s most immersive summer gathering is officially back on the calendar, as organizers of the Soulstice Music and Arts Festival announced the full 2026 daily lineup on July 13, confirming a three day celebration of folk, bluegrass, jam band, and experimental sounds set to take over the historic Red Mill Museum Village in Clinton from Friday, July 31 through Sunday, August 2. Now entering its second year, Soulstice has grown into considerably more than a straightforward concert series, positioning itself instead as a genuinely immersive cultural weekend blending live music with wellness programming, interactive art, and a distinctly community driven atmosphere.
This year’s musical lineup carries real weight within the regional jam and roots rock scene. Todd Sheaffer, frontman of the beloved band Railroad Earth, headlines the weekend alongside the popular roots music group Yarn, giving the festival two genuinely well established anchors capable of drawing dedicated fans from well beyond Hunterdon County itself. Sheaffer will perform with a full backing lineup billed as Todd Sheaffer and Friends, appearing alongside the Bobby Syvarth Band, which features Tim Carbone, rounding out a headlining slate built around musicians with deep, overlapping roots throughout the Northeast’s jam band community. Beyond these headliners, the full weekend brings together more than 25 bands across its three day run, giving the festival a genuinely substantial musical footprint for an event still in just its second year.
Saturday’s schedule stands out as a particularly packed day of programming. The lineup includes performances from Joe Cirotti, featured in a special two part collaborative live set called Handpicked, alongside sets from Adventures of Matte Black, CC Coletti, and Alyce Drive, before the day winds down into a late night DJ set from Black Meridian, giving the festival a genuine range of live instrumentation during the day that shifts into electronic energy once the sun goes down.
Friday night opens the weekend with a genuinely unique piece of programming beyond the live music itself, the official premiere of Soulstice, The Film, an immersive documentary built as a kind of time capsule covering the chaotic, behind the scenes reality of building and performing at the festival’s inaugural year. For attendees who caught last year’s debut event, the screening offers a rare chance to revisit that first year’s energy through a proper cinematic lens, while newcomers get an insider’s look at exactly what goes into pulling off a festival of this scale before they ever step onto the festival grounds themselves.
Music and film represent just one dimension of what organizers have built into this year’s weekend. Soulstice has deliberately curated a genuinely holistic experience well beyond its concert schedule, anchored by a dedicated health and wellness component that includes guided yoga sessions, specialized breathwork classes, and a full on site holistic wellness center for attendees looking to balance the weekend’s musical energy with something more restorative. Food and drink offerings round out the grounds as well, with artisan food vendors, regional craft beers, cocktails, and local New Jersey wines giving festivalgoers plenty of options to refuel between sets. The festival also incorporates interactive, structural art installations throughout the grounds, giving attendees genuine visual and physical art to explore between performances rather than confining the festival’s creative programming to the stage alone, and a designated kids zone ensures the weekend remains genuinely accessible for families rather than skewing exclusively toward an adult crowd.
The festival takes place at the iconic Red Mill Museum Village, located at 56 Main Street in Clinton, a historic setting easily accessible from both Route 78 and Route 31, giving the weekend a genuinely picturesque backdrop well suited to its blend of music, art, and wellness programming. Admission to Friday night’s film premiere is completely free, giving anyone curious about the festival a low commitment way to experience part of the weekend before deciding whether to attend the full paid programming. Paid passes covering Saturday and Sunday’s full lineup are available through the festival’s official Eventbrite ticket portal, and families will be glad to know that children under the age of 12 get in free for the entire weekend, reinforcing just how central family accessibility has become to the festival’s overall identity.
This year’s event is presented by the Pattenburg House and The Peace Love Music Movement, two organizations whose involvement helps explain the festival’s distinctly community centered, wellness forward atmosphere compared to a typical single genre music festival. With a headlining lineup anchored by Todd Sheaffer and Yarn, a genuinely packed Saturday schedule, a documentary premiere honoring the festival’s own origin story, and a full slate of wellness and interactive art programming layered throughout the weekend, the second annual Soulstice Music and Arts Festival looks positioned to build meaningfully on its inaugural year, giving Hunterdon County a genuinely distinctive summer destination that treats music as just one part of a much broader cultural experience.
