Category Archives: VBF 2025

SEMAC awards Legacy Amendment grant to Vintage Band Festival

On November 19 the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council (SEMAC) awarded Vintage Band Festival (VBF) a $10,000 Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund grant for its summer 2025 one-day event. Other Northfield recipients of SEMAC grants in this cycle are the Bridge Chamber Music Festival, the Northfield Jazz Festival, the Paradise Center for the Arts, and the Healthy Community Initiative.

The SEMAC grant will enable VBF to recruit 3 high-caliber bands for the schedule in addition to funding part of the audio technology necessary to achieve a great audience experience.

VBF 2025 will be held on Saturday, August 2, 2025 in Downtown Northfield, Minnesota. Without this financial support from SEMAC, it would be much harder to balance the budget of Vintage Band Festival. Thanks to SEMAC and thanks to the Minnesota voters who supported and continue to renew the 2008 Legacy Amendment to the state constitution that provides for ongoing funding for arts and culture in the state of Minnesota.

Vintage Band Festival announces 2025 and 2026 dates

The Vintage Band Festival board of directors has decided that Saturday, August 2, 2025 will be the date for VBF 2025. The festival will take place in Bridge Square Park in Downtown Northfield, MN along the banks of the Cannon River. Current plans call for a schedule on that day from 9:00 am – 10:00 pm. There will be 10-12 bands playing 45-minute sets with a short break in between performances for stage changes. Riverwalk Market Fair will share the park with Vintage Band Festival. 30-40 vendors will be onsite showcasing artisan products, fresh produce, and prepared food from 9:00 am – 1:00 pm.

Vintage Band Festival will celebrate its 20^th anniversary in 2026. Coincidentally, 2026 is also the 250^th anniversary of the United States of America. We are hoping to do some programming that calls attention to this special date as well. Tune in to America250 for more information about this propitious celebration. Watch for periodic updates on the plans for celebrating these milestones in our local and national history.

Bridge Square Redux

Bridge Square has been the central gathering place of Northfield, Minnesota since the early days of the 20th century. Originally, it was a place to park your horse and buggy. In later days it has hosted governors, European royalty, carnival booths, political rallies and protests, and, of course, brass bands.

The City of Northfield has been planning a substantial renovation of Bridge Square in Northfield’s for several years. The sidewalks and plazas are deteriorating and the infrastructure needs to be reshaped to better accommodate the increasing numbers of people attending the annual cycle of events. It’s likely that the construction process will occur in 2025. If you’re curious about what the outcome might look like, click here for architectural renderings of the changes.

What does this mean for the Vintage Band Festival event to be held on August 2, 2025?

VBF 2025 will not be presented in Bridge Square as the reconstruction won’t be finished until later in the summer. Instead, the festival will take place in Central Park, a wonderful venue just three blocks east of Bridge Square. We have used Central Park in past years as an auxiliary location when we’ve needed a second stage.

It’s likely that in future years (beginning in 2026), whenever Vintage Band Festival is a multi-day event, the main stage will be in Central Park and the secondary venue will be Bridge Square. After the Bridge Square rehab is complete, there won’t be a space in the park large enough for the the footprint of the larger stage that’s needed.

That being said, VBF 2024 on July 26 and 27 will be staged in Bridge Square in its customary location in front of the Post Office. We hope to see you there!