Written by Rebecca Hollman
Photos by Aaron Bradley
The countdown to Spirit of the Suwannee is officially on. With Hulaween 2026 less than a month away, Hula Fam finally has one of the most important pieces of the puzzle: the daily schedules are here, and so are this year’s four official costume themes.
Hulaween returns to the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak, Florida, October 22–25, 2026, for its 13th annual gathering. This year’s schedule spreads the action across The Meadow, The Hallows, The Amphitheatre, Spirit Lake, and DEF Off Limits, with music running deep into the night and plenty of the wonderfully painful conflicts that come with a stacked Hula lineup.
From massive Meadow moments with The String Cheese Incident, Pretty Lights, Excision, and Geese to late-night adventures featuring Green Velvet, KETTAMA, STS9, Mersiv’s EOTO & Friends, Lamp, Magoo, and those ever-mysterious surprise sets, it’s officially time to start building those schedules.
And because this is Hulaween, planning your weekend means figuring out more than where you’ll be dancing. Four nights means four completely different opportunities to transform.
Thursday: The Cocoon & The Moon
Hulaween begins with a transformation.
Thursday’s “The Cocoon & The Moon” theme invites Hula Fam to break free from the cocoon and arrive in the forest as something newly awakened. Think butterfly wings, lunar creatures, cosmic travelers, alien life, moon dwellers, star seekers, strange science experiments and anything else that feels like it emerged after dark.
Musically, Thursday wastes absolutely no time getting weird. Excision closes The Meadow from 10:30 PM–12:00 AM, while KETTAMA takes over The Amphitheatre during the same late-night window. Over at Spirit Lake, Midnight Generation plays from 10:30 PM–12:00 AM before Magoo carries the party until 2:45 AM.
The Hallows stacks Costa, Steller, Ahee and Crankdat, while DEF Off Limits runs through KARAN!, Gravagerz, EFFY and Yukimatsu, followed by surprise sets until 2:45 AM.
Consider Thursday the emergence. Come out of the cocoon, find your wings and prepare for three more nights in the swamp.
Friday: Hula Fae Cabaret
Friday trades outer space for enchanted forest debauchery with Hula Fae Cabaret.
Fairies, fae creatures, burlesque beauties, theatrical characters and over-the-top pop-culture troupe costumes are all fair game. This is the night for glamour, whimsy and just the right amount of mischief. Glitter, wings, corsets, dramatic makeup, extravagant headpieces and coordinated group costumes will fit right into the living cabaret taking over Suwannee.
Friday also brings the first major doses of String Cheese, with The String Cheese Incident playing The Meadow from 5:15–6:30 PM and again from 7:30–9:00 PM before My Morning Jacket takes over from 10:00 PM–12:30 AM.
Elsewhere, The Hallows moves from Caitlin Krisko & The Broadcast to Eggy, Lettuce and STS9, with STS9 stretching until 2:00 AM. The Amphitheatre features Curra, Saka x Fly, Opiuo, LYNY and Of The Trees, while Spirit Lake gets The Yeah Babys, Natalie Brooke, Anthill Cinema w/ Jon Ditty, Guavatron and EOTO & Friends.
DEF Off Limits might be one of Friday’s sneakiest runs with Rudashi, AK Sports, Hhunter and Frost Children’s DJ set, followed by surprise sets running all the way until 3:00 AM. Spirit Lake goes even later, with Lamp from 2:15–3:45 AM.
Good luck going to bed.
Saturday: Bioluminescent Dream Swamp
If there was ever a costume theme designed specifically for Spirit Lake after dark, this is it.
Saturday’s Bioluminescent Dream Swamp is the glow-up of Hulaween weekend. Glowing fabrics, LEDs, iridescent materials, illuminated accessories and otherworldly swamp creatures are encouraged. You can become an animal, plant, forest spirit, water creature or simply the glowing energy running through the roots and branches of Suwannee.
Saturday’s music schedule is equally massive.
Pretty Lights plays a three-hour set at The Meadow from 11:00 PM–2:00 AM, following afternoon and evening sets from Sneezy, The String Cheese Incident and The Warren Haynes Incident.
At The Hallows, Motifv, Heyz, Daily Bread and Levity carry the day into night. The Amphitheatre gets Jerro, GUEDELLA, Kasablanca and Ben Böhmer Live, while Spirit Lake features Tire Fire, Jon Stickley Trio, Asydequest, Willis and Dope Lemon.
Then there’s DEF Off Limits, which goes from Close Friends Only to Tini Gessler, Jackie Hollander and Green Velvet, followed by the La La Land Takeover with Green Velvet B3B & Surprise Sets from 1:00–2:00 AM.
And somehow that still isn’t the end: Mountain Grass Unit keeps Spirit Lake moving from 2:15–3:45 AM.
Wear something that glows. You’re going to need it.
Sunday: Any-Shade Masquerade
For the final night, Hulaween is turning the forest into one enormous masquerade.
Any-Shade Masquerade celebrates every color in the spectrum while giving Hula Fam plenty of room to interpret the theme. Pick one shade and commit from head to toe, arrive masked and mysterious, coordinate an entire crew around one color, or become a walking rainbow.
Think Venetian masks, jeweled eye pieces, lace veils, elaborate headpieces, glitter masks and dramatic face paint. Groups can claim a single color—deep red, electric blue, emerald, gold, silver, black—or take the opposite approach and layer every possible shade into one giant prism-in-motion.
Sunday starts earlier, with music kicking off shortly after noon. The Meadow hosts Tapers Choice, The String Cheese Incident and Geese, while The Hallows features PlayLunch, Guerilla Toss and Unknown Mortal Orchestra.
The Amphitheatre gets particularly funky with Hershe, A Hundred Drums, Maddy O’Neal, Manic Focus and Big Gramatik (Big Gigantic B2B Gramatik). Spirit Lake moves through Moonstone Riders, True Loves, Lewis OfMan, Drama [Club] and Greyboy Allstars, while DEF Off Limits closes out its programming with Open Aux Contest Winner, INVT, Daniel Allan, Salute and surprise sets.
It’s a fitting final theme for a festival whose personality has always come from the people wandering through the forest just as much as the artists onstage. The final night celebrates the full spectrum of the Hula Fam: colorful, strange, creative and unmistakably itself.
Start Building Those Schedules
With five stages and sets stretching well past midnight, there are going to be conflicts. Lots of them.
Thursday already forces choices between Excision, KETTAMA and Midnight Generation. Friday puts My Morning Jacket opposite portions of Of The Trees and the late-night Spirit Lake action. Saturday brings Pretty Lights into a night packed with Ben Böhmer, Dope Lemon, Green Velvet and the La La Land takeover. And Sunday closes things out with a choose-your-own-adventure spanning jam, funk, electronic and everything in between.
But that chaos is part of Hulaween. You can map every minute of the weekend before arriving and still end up abandoning the plan because you heard something incredible coming through the trees.
So screenshot the schedules, start the group chat negotiations and get those costumes together.
Hulaween 2026 takes over Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park October 22–25. We’ll see you in the swamp.