Wildflower Festival returns with a louder sound and a bigger garden
When Griff Comtois and two friends threw the first Wildflower Festival in 2023, it was three bands and a few dozen art vendors packed around the amphitheater at Milford’s Keyes Memorial Park. Four years later, the environmentally centered event is established enough that Comtois barely recalls the scramble of those early days.
“It feels a lot easier,” he said recently. “People know about us now, so that’s generally good.”
The fourth annual Wildflower Festival returns to Keyes Field Stage on Saturday, Aug. 22, running from noon to 9 p.m. This year brings a notable shift in sound, more art vendors and new education partners, and, for the first time, bands on the bill will be paid for their performances.
Every act this year hails from Massachusetts or New Hampshire, with a musical shift from the more folk- and jam-oriented acts of 2025, like headliner Nova One, toward punk, indie and shoegaze.
“There’s still some folk going on, but we switched styles a little bit,” Comtois said.
“We’ve all kind of just been really into this type of music lately, a lot more punk stuff,” he continued. “It kind of felt natural for us to gather all of our friends and the people we know within the area that play music, instead of trying to find a big name to get a draw.”
7-11 Jesus headlines, with Gollylagging, Tysk Tysk Tysk (replacing originally booked Main Era), Capo / Regime, Parachute Club, Cozy Throne, Thoughtsick, Time Eater, Milk Street, Five Feet and Star Family Singers. Returning for a third appearance is Darth Brandon; its frontman Andrew West, books much of the festival’s music.
The Wildflower Fest art market keeps growing as well. There are 60 vendors this year, up from roughly 50 in 2025. Comtois said organizers are intentionally keeping the number in that range. “It’s a good sweet spot for the amount of vendors to the amount of shoppers we have,” he said.
Expect the usual mix of stickers, prints, original paintings, brass sculptures, pottery, woodworking and crocheted items, plus what Comtois described as a strong showing of plant-inspired art and upcycled clothing this year.
“I always like to see them because I just feel like they fit the vibe of the festival,” he said.
New for 2026 is a slate of education-focused exhibitors. The Caterpillar Lab is bringing live caterpillars and butterflies for hands-on demonstrations, New Hampshire Audubon will have a table, and Queerlective is setting up a pressed-flower button-making station.
Partners underscore the festival’s growth as well, with Triangle Credit Union, Bangor Savings Bank and Fieldstone signing on this year.
“That’s a really nice part,” Comtois said. “Now that we’re more known as a running institution, it’s easier to get sponsors by showing them the things that we’ve done in the past.”
The festival’s original mission of funding pollinator habitat at Keyes Field keeps expanding. A bed of packed dirt in year one, the gazebo garden is now well established, though a few spots are still finding their footing. The meadow strip added last year has taken off: plugs once the size of a fist are now 5 to 6 feet tall and 2 to 3 feet wide.
This spring the group planted a redbud tree and a chokeberry, with more trees planned for fall. Groundbreaking for a planting area near the park’s volleyball courts also began recently.
“That will be cool,” Comtois said. “I think we’re going to get some plants that are 10 to 12 feet tall for that.”
Though national debates about sustainability are a concern, the festival’s ambitions will stay local for now — with an eye toward the future.
“My dream is for us to have more of a national impact,” Comtois said. “A lot of rhetoric and policies are going around now that are not good for us or the environment. I’d like to change that mindset.”
Wildflower Festival
When: Saturday, Aug. 22, noon to 9 p.m.
Where: Keyes Field Stage, Keyes Park, 45 Elm St., Milford
Tickets: Sliding scale (suggested donation $10), eventbrite.com
Featured photo: Courtesy photo.