Foodstock returns for a sixth year, bringing food and fellowship downtown

Free festival featuring more than 40 food and spirit vendors kicks off at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 10

SOMERSET, KENTUCKY (May 5, 2025) — Som­er­set is in full bloom, and so are plan­ning efforts for the city’s spring fes­ti­val, Food­stock, which will fea­ture a record num­ber of food and spir­it ven­dors in its sixth year.

This free, fam­i­ly-friend­ly fes­ti­val will be 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sat­ur­day, May 10, at Foun­tain Square. Food­stock will fea­ture all the favorites atten­dees have come to expect, plus a few new addi­tions to the line­up. More than 40 food and spir­it ven­dors will fill down­town Somerset’s streets along with mer­chan­dise ven­dors, live art acti­va­tions, live music and fam­i­ly activ­i­ties.

“Food­stock is more than just a fes­ti­val; it’s a cel­e­bra­tion of our com­mu­ni­ty’s spir­it and cre­ativ­i­ty,” said Leslie Ikerd, See Som­er­set tourism direc­tor and city events coor­di­na­tor. “Each year, we want to bring togeth­er the best of what Som­er­set has to offer — out­stand­ing food, tal­ent­ed musi­cians, and inspir­ing artists — to cre­ate an unfor­get­table expe­ri­ence in south­ern Ken­tucky.”

Fes­ti­val high­lights include:

• Culi­nary Delights: Atten­dees can indulge in a diverse array of cuisines, sweets and bev­er­ages from over 40 food trucks and spir­it ven­dors hail­ing from Som­er­set and across Ken­tucky. Browse the full ven­dor list.
  
• Busker Music Con­test: Hear busker musi­cians per­form at par­tic­i­pat­ing down­town con­test venues (Birdies and Bar­rels, The Tip­sy Toad and The Mak­ers Mill) as they com­pete to earn a spot on the Moon­light Fes­ti­val stage on Oct. 18. Vote for your favorite musi­cian between 11 a.m.-9 p.m. through a QR code post­ed inside and out­side par­tic­i­pat­ing venues. Par­tic­i­pat­ing musi­cians include Annie Boek, Chris Lack­ey, Just a Phase, Bran­den and Brit­tney Sanchez, Jere­my and the Spawn, Vena Ruby, Todd Clay­ton, Kevin Thomas and Jadan Tram­mell. View the per­for­mance sched­ule.
  
• Live Art Acti­va­tions: Local artists will cre­ate live art around Foun­tain Square, offer­ing atten­dees a chance to wit­ness cre­ativ­i­ty in action and inter­act with the artists. This year’s line­up includes Jacob Wil­son, Ani­ta Sti­gall, Nate Michaels, The Shine House, Jeff Scrib­n­er and Kara Nor­ris.
  
• Fun and Games: A children’s area with inflat­a­bles, face paint­ing, bal­loon ani­mals and corn­hole will be set up around the foun­tain at Judi­cial Cen­ter Plaza. This area is free for fam­i­lies to enjoy and will be open through­out the day.

New addi­tions to the fes­ti­val and down­town Som­er­set include:

• Ride the Wave Sculp­ture Trail Unveil­ing: Food­stock will host the pub­lic unveil­ing of the Ride the Wave Sculp­ture Trail. An ini­tia­tive of SPEDA, the Som­er­set-Pulas­ki Cham­ber of Com­merce, Lake Cum­ber­land Tourism and See Som­er­set Tourism, this pub­lic art project cel­e­brates Lake Cum­ber­land, tourism and the rich arts cul­ture in Som­er­set-Pulas­ki Coun­ty. Sculp­tures have been pur­chased by local busi­ness­es and orga­ni­za­tions to ben­e­fit the Som­er­set Vet­er­ans Memo­r­i­al Park, and they have been paint­ed by local artists. The sculp­tures will be unveiled to the pub­lic for the first time in front of the Pulas­ki Coun­ty Cour­t­house and will be dis­played all day, weath­er per­mit­ting. After the fes­ti­val, the sculp­tures will be placed in their per­ma­nent loca­tions on the mur­al trail. For more infor­ma­tion and future announce­ments about the trail, vis­it somersetkyleads.com/ride-the-wave/.
  
• Down­town Drum Cir­cle: Just down the road from the fes­ti­val bound­aries on the same date as Food­stock, a new addi­tion to down­town Som­er­set events will take place: the Down­town Drum Cir­cle. The event wel­comes indi­vid­u­als of all ages and skill lev­els at Rocky Hol­low Park’s Joe Ford Amphithe­ater. The drum cir­cle — an infor­mal gath­er­ing of per­cus­sion­ists and dancers who meet in pub­lic to play drums and move with the music — will form at 3 p.m. at the amphithe­ater. Som­er­set City Coun­cil­woman Phyl­lis Law­son intro­duced the idea and said she hopes to attract par­tic­i­pants from Som­er­set and across the region and state, with the main objec­tive being for them to share and get in tune with one anoth­er and them­selves. “For me, the defin­ing val­ues of a drum cir­cle include equal­i­ty, auton­o­my, inclu­sive­ness and free­dom of expres­sion,” Law­son said. “All are wel­come to bring a drum and be a part of the cir­cle. Or, if you are like me, just enjoy the rhythm and the peo­ple.” Future drum cir­cles will be from 3–5 p.m. on the first Sun­day of every month at Rocky Hol­low.

Ikerd encour­ages fes­ti­val atten­dees to walk down to Rocky Hol­low and check out this new event that cel­e­brates expres­sion and cre­ativ­i­ty.

“The drum cir­cle will be a won­der­ful addi­tion to down­town, and I’m thrilled it is being intro­duced to the com­mu­ni­ty on the same day thou­sands will con­verge down­town to expe­ri­ence food, music and art at Food­stock,” Ikerd said. “Every­one is wel­come, and I look for­ward to see­ing this event flour­ish to bring music and fel­low­ship to our beau­ti­ful Rocky Hol­low Park.”

Admis­sion to Food­stock is free, but, as is required at all city fes­ti­vals, atten­dees who wish to pur­chase alco­holic bev­er­ages must pur­chase a $5 spir­it wrist­band. There will be one cen­tral loca­tion to pur­chase wrist­bands inside the fes­ti­val bound­aries this year (see fes­ti­val map above), and atten­dees will be guid­ed to that loca­tion by front gate vol­un­teers. 

JAB Law Office once again spon­sors safe rides home in part­ner­ship with Pre­mier Trans­porta­tion of Lake Cum­ber­land. Any­one who needs trans­porta­tion to or from the fes­ti­val should call (606) 872‑0376 to sched­ule.

Many down­town busi­ness­es will remain open dur­ing the fes­ti­val. Ikerd encour­ages those attend­ing to explore and sup­port these estab­lish­ments in addi­tion to the food, spir­it and gen­er­al ven­dors through­out the fes­ti­val area.

For more infor­ma­tion — includ­ing a full list of ven­dors, artists, open down­town busi­ness­es, a fes­ti­val map with road clo­sure infor­ma­tion, and the busker music con­test sched­ule, vis­it seesomerset.com/food-stock/.