Organizers announced the Eaux Claires Music & Arts Festival will not take place in 2019. The announcement stated the event will return to Eau Claire, Wisconsin in 2020.
Eaux Claires was established in July 2015 by local native Justin Vernon of Bon Iver and The National’s Aaron Dessner. Held annually at Foster Farms, the second edition took place in August 2016 and the third installment was held in June 2017 edition. The most recent Eaux Claires took place in July 2018. Read the announcement regarding the festival’s future below:
As winter deepens here in Eau Claire, WI, we at Eaux Claires wanted to reach out before it gets too cold and update you to the many conversations that we have had over the past couple of months.
In the last four years we have grown together as patrons and organizers; these experiences are perfectly focused within our own collected memories, and feel something like going through four years of high school – the growth, the mistakes, the energy, but most of all the searing, stumbling beauty of becoming one’s self.
After our Senior year, we find ourselves wanting to move out, change things, and take stock of who we’ve become. In order to manage this transition, we are going to take a year off. While it will be hard for us to break the chain of momentum and the positive impact the festival has had on our community, we have fresh, clear ideas of how to make it even better. But we aren’t just changing locations, we’re bolstering our philosophies. We want to celebrate EVEN MORE about this REAL TOWN we call home by extolling and imagining things we haven’t seen or experienced to date.
Ultimately, we want a better experience – not just for us, but for everyone. Is that too vague? We’re not trying to do that anymore, so here…
No Eaux Claires V in 2019. It will happen in 2020, and it will be more focused, fun, and internal. We will have a couple of public events in the coming months hosted at Pablo Center at the Confluence. These events will incorporate performance and dialogue about the direction we plan on taking the festival throughout the coming decade. Looking forward to seeing you there.
– EXC Founders and Organizers
In addition to Bon Iver and The National, previous Eaux Claires lineups featured Paul Simon, John Prine, Wilco, Feist, Sufjan Stevens, Chance the Rapper, Sturgill Simpson, Erykah Badu, Spoon, Phil Cook, Jenny Lewis, Blind Boys Of Alabama and others. The 2016 event hosted the lone Day of the Dead performance featuring the music of the Grateful Dead played by many of the musicians appearing on the Day Of The Dead tribute album.
