It's been more than seven years since Bon Iver's Justin Vernon and the National’s Aaron Dessner threw their last Eaux Claires festival. Eaux Claires was a fixture from 2015 to 2018. The Big Red Machine bandmates brought legends like Paul Simon, Erykah Badu, and Sufjan Stevens to Vernon’s Eau Claire, Wisconsin hometown, and there were always lots of special one-off collaborations. Eaux Claires took 2019 off and planned to come back in 2020, but COVID changed all that. We haven't gotten another one since then, but now we know that Eaux Claires will return in 2026.
A few days ago, Eaux Claires’ Instagram page started up again, teasing a return with a post that put its logo over the "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" sheet music. Today, that page posted the news that Eaux Claires is coming back July 24-25.
Along with that announcement, the Eaux Claires Instagram posted a video of two UW-Eau Claire Blugold Marching Band members playing "Take Me Out To The Ballgame” on tubas. According to VolumeOne, that video was shot at Eau Claire's Carson Park baseball stadium, which is believed to be the new site for next year's festival.
