rock the bayfront festival
June 19-20, 2026 | Duluth, MN
ROCK THE BAYFRONT
When the race is over, the fun’s just beginning on Grandma’s Marathon weekend!
With a move to Duluth’s Bayfront Festival Park the party’s as big and as fun as ever for our participants, volunteers, supporters, and the entire community!
There’s something for everyone – families and kids included – starting Friday afternoon and going strong through Saturday night, with live music and entertainment at Bayfront Festival Park beside the waters of the Duluth Harbor.
Whether you’re in need of space to lay out with the family following your big run or a just a fun night out with friends, Grandma’s Marathon weekend has got you covered.
You may come for the run, but you’ll stay for the fun!
2025 ENTERTAINMENT DETAILS
When the race is over, the fun’s just beginning on Grandma’s Marathon weekend — and it’s FREE and open to the public!
There’s something for everyone – families and kids included – starting Friday afternoon and going strong through Saturday night, with live music and entertainment at Bayfront Festival Park beside the waters of the Duluth Harbor.
You may come for the run, but you’ll stay for the fun!
BAYFRONT FESTIVAL PARK
350 Harbor Drive
Duluth, MN 55802
DECC PARKING RAMP & BAYFRONT FESTIVAL PARK LOT
350 Harbor Drive
Duluth, MN 55802
Paid parking on race weekend is available for $10 at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center (DECC) parking ramp and the Bayfront Festival Park open lot.
Metered and other paid parking is available in Canal Park or downtown Duluth, which is approximately one-half mile away from the DECC. NOTE: To crossover I-35, or to help protect pedestrians from cold or inclement weather, there is an indoor skywalk system that connects downtown Duluth to the DECC facilities.
BIKE VALET
Skip the traffic when exploring Duluth! To help make our event a more accessible biking destination, we will offer a bike valet on both Friday and Saturday of race weekend. Just like a coat check, we’ll tag your bike and provide you with a claim stub. When you’re ready to move on, come get your bike, and off you go!
This complimentary service is available at the following times and locations on race weekend:
Friday, June 20
12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. — Duluth Entertainment Convention Center (DECC), near Entrance A
Saturday, June 21
6:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. — Corner of Buchanan Street & Lake Avenue
RIDE THE BUS
Use the Duluth Transit Authority (DTA) to ease the stress of moving around town on race weekend! NOTE: Be sure to utilize the DTA Trip Planner to plan your weekend activities.
SKYWALK ACCESS
Use the indoor skywalk system to cross Interstate-35 and access the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center (DECC). Enter the skywalk in downtown Duluth at the Holiday Center (207 W. Superior Street).
Grandma’s Marathon is committed to ensuring our events, programs, and services are accessible to all participants, volunteers, vendors, spectators, and community members. Our intention is that organization adhere to the principles of social equity and inclusion and remain open, welcoming, safe, and accessible for all who participate.
We will provide reasonable accommodation for individuals with permanent physical, intellectual, visual, auditory, or sensory impairments. If you require an accommodation, please contact us via email at [email protected] or via phone at (218) 727-0947.
Please click HERE to view our full Grandma’s Marathon Access & Equity Policy, and please click HERE for some more specifics on the accessibility of race weekend.
For answers to some of the most Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Grandma’s Marathon race weekend, please click HERE.
FRIDAY ENTERTAINMENT
FREE | Open to the Public
Park Open from 12:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. | Last Call for Alcohol at 7:30 p.m.
GB LEIGHTON
1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Through almost three decades, GB Leighton has been tearing up rock clubs and festivals with a slew of songs that connect with the heart and couples singing along out on the dance floor. Frontman Brian Leighton is one of the region’s most incendiary live performers and consistently solid songwriters, delivering the same rock-n-roll spirit night after night.
“When audiences come to see G. B. Leighton, it is clear they have a long and intimate history with Brian Leighton and his music. Audiences not only get up and dance, but they know all the words to their favorite Leighton tunes and sing loudly, becoming a part of the fabric of the evening’s musical experience.” — Janie Franz, High Plains Reader
HIPPO CAMPUS
5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Hippo Campus is four native Minnesotans making music that is infectious, joyful, and thematically soaked with the sense of cynicism accompanying the search of self-meaning.
Since the very beginning, Hippo Campus has tried to make sense of the world around it, and to this day the band still embraces and is guided by the ethos of shaking it up. Early records from the group aimed to be cerebral, heady, to use poetic language and obscure feelings – but as we move to today, the band now wants to be understood.
SATURDAY DAYTIME ENTERTAINMENT
FREE | Open to the Public
Park Open from 7:00 a.m. to 11:45 p.m. | Last Call for Alcohol at 11:30 p.m.
BOXCAR
9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
Boxcar is a hard-driving country band with a rock ‘n’ roll edge. Led by singer/guitarist Blake Shippee, the group seeks to cleanse whisky-soaked souls in the names of George Jones, Hank Williams, and John Prine.
THE SLAMMING DOORS
1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
With a sound that finds itself somewhere in between Jason Isbell’s inward discovery and Chris Stapleton’s soulful delivery, the songwriting of The Slamming Doors crystallizes aspects of humanity, conveying a keen sense of the gravity in life, while subtly lined with the celebration that is ultimately called for.
The songs are complete, strong from start to finish. Frontman Adam Herman employs clever conceptual connections that inhabit the entire tune, and sprinkles in powerful lines that feel like brilliant turn-of-phrase.
CHARLIE PARR
3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
In the music of Charlie Parr, there is a sincere conviction and earnest drive to create. The Minnesota-born guitarist, songwriter, and interpreter of traditional music pulls closely from the sights and sounds around him, his lyrical craftsmanship built by his influences. The sounds from his working-class upbringing—including Folkways legends such as Lead Belly and Woody Guthrie—imbue Parr’s music with stylistic echoes of blues and folk icons of decades past.
“Parr is an example of a performer who never allows his gifts to get in the way of the music. His guitar playing is virtuosic and yet never becomes a distraction from the power of the story he’s weaving before our ears.” — Popmatters
MID DREAM
5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Mid Dream brings together pop and punk with songwriters Jenna Harting and Lisa Wentworth leading the charge on vocals. Their songs are a mix of upbeat anthems, soul searching ballads, and some things decidedly neither.
EMILY HAAVIK & THE 35s
6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Emily Haavik is a singer-songwriter from the shores of Lake Superior, now based in the Twin Cities. Emily plays a blend of Americana, folk and glitzy-glam country, often with her incredible band the 35s.
“There’s soul in Haavik’s voice.” — Duluth News Tribune
SATURDAY NIGHT ENTERTAINMENT
THE MUSIC OF PRINCE
featuring former members of The New Sound Revolution
8:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
With an irresistible mix of hits combined with some of Prince’s most loved deep cuts, the former members of the New Power Generation take the audience on a journey through the musical legacy of Prince.
As a token of their immense respect and admiration for the man and deeply rooted dedication to his huge body of work, the band celebrates Prince’s incredible creativity by playing all the songs exactly like they used to play them with Prince.
This astounding show is an experience that enchants fans of all generations who enjoy “real music by real musicians.”
SOUL ASYLUM
10:30 p.m. to 11:45 p.m.
show, ensures that the band isn’t stopping anytime soon.
Bayfront Festival Park will be open and selling food and beverages beginning at approximately 7:00 a.m. on Saturday (race day)
to accommodate our Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon finishers and the general public.
Sounds Unlimited will provide professional DJs to play music between the live acts, and Sound Central will provide the weekend’s audio system.
Bullyan RV will provide top-of-the-line RVs for our musicians to relax and enjoy before and after their performances throughout the weekend.
FRIDAY ENTERTAINMENT
FREE | Open to the Public
Park Open from 12:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Last Call for Alcohol at 7:30 p.m.
GB LEIGHTON
1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Through almost three decades, GB Leighton has been tearing up rock clubs and festivals with a slew of songs that connect with the heart and couples singing along out on the dance floor. Frontman Brian Leighton is one of the region’s most incendiary live performers and consistently solid songwriters, delivering the same rock-n-roll spirit night after night.
“When audiences come to see G. B. Leighton, it is clear they have a long and intimate history with Brian Leighton and his music. Audiences not only get up and dance, but they know all the words to their favorite Leighton tunes and sing loudly, becoming a part of the fabric of the evening’s musical experience.” — Janie Franz, High Plains Reader
HIPPO CAMPUS
5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Hippo Campus is four native Minnesotans making music that is infectious, joyful, and thematically soaked with the sense of cynicism accompanying the search of self-meaning.
Since the very beginning, Hippo Campus has tried to make sense of the world around it, and to this day the band still embraces and is guided by the ethos of shaking it up. Early records from the group aimed to be cerebral, heady, to use poetic language and obscure feelings – but as we move to today, the band now wants to be understood.
SATURDAY DAYTIME ENTERTAINMENT
FREE | Open to the Public
Park Open from 7:00 a.m. to 11:45 p.m.
Last Call for Alcohol at 11:30 p.m.
BOXCAR
9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
NOT FADE AWAY
11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
THE SLAMMING DOORS
1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
CHARLIE PARR
3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
MID DREAM
5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
EMILY HAAVIK & THE 35s
6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
SATURDAY NIGHT ENTERTAINMENT
THE MUSIC OF PRINCE
featuring former members of The New Sound Revolution
8:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
With an irresistible mix of hits combined with some of Prince’s most loved deep cuts, the former members of the New Power Generation take the audience on a journey through the musical legacy of Prince.
As a token of their immense respect and admiration for the man and deeply rooted dedication to his huge body of work, the band celebrates Prince’s incredible creativity by playing all the songs exactly like they used to play them with Prince.
This astounding show is an experience that enchants fans of all generations who enjoy “real music by real musicians.”
SOUL ASYLUM
10:30 p.m. to 11:45 p.m.
show, ensures that the band isn’t stopping anytime soon.