Annual HONK! Festival 10/6 – 10/12

20th Annual HONK! Festival

20th Annual Festival of Activist Street Bands
October 9-12, 2025
Held throughout Somerville, Cambridge, and adjacent neighborhoods.

HONK! Festival 2025 will be held from October 9-12, with HONK! outdoor band concerts held rain or shine throughout Somerville and its adjacent cities. Which includes the vast “Reclaim the Streets for Horns, Bikes, and Feet” Parade that will wend its way from Davis Square to Harvard Square on that Sunday to join in Harvard Square’s 46th annual Oktoberfest. In addition, plans are in the works to host a HONK! Conference on that Thursday, held during the day at Tufts University, which will include sharing strategies on such pertinent topics as innovative performance practices and the different approaches for increasing solidarity, reclaiming public space, communicating effectively, and implementing safeguards for security.

Initiated in Somerville back in 2006, HONK! is now a world-wide movement, inspired by a commitment to instigate positive social change through music, and embodied in the powerful upbeat sounds generated by activist street bands. Musicians travel from near and far to participate annually in Somerville’s HONK!, which has spawned countless bands and upwards of 20 kindred festivals around the world over the past 20 years. As global crises intensify, along with the shared feeling of urgency for a rapid response, HONK! brings welcome joy, power, beauty, and solidarity to our streets.

20th Annual Festival of Activist Street Bands
October 9-12, 2025
Held throughout Somerville, Cambridge, and adjacent neighborhoods.
Outdoors rain or shine.
Free and open to all; if interested in volunteering, contact volunteer@honkfest.org

The entire Festival is inspired by a commitment to social change through music, embodied in the powerful upbeat music generated by activist street bands who have traveled from near and far to participate in our annual HONK! Because after all, this is where the HONK! movement all started back in 2006, spawning many a HONK! since then, and warranting its own wiki toboot: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HONK!

The Somerville-based HONK! Committee — spurred on by members of HONK!’s host band and HONK! movement founder, the Good Trouble Brass Band (fka The Second Line Social Aid and Pleasure Society Brass Band) —  is working fast and furiously to solidify plans for this year’s 19th annual HONK! with periodic updates posted on honkfest.org, x.com/honkfest/, and facebook.com/honkfestival.

At this early stage of the organizing game, the HONK! Festival Committee would like to give special thanks to the City of Somerville, the Somerville Arts Council, and the Davis Square and Harvard Square businesses for their continuing support.

The Festival is based in Davis Sq. Somerville, with events held throughout Somerville, Cambridge, and Boston neighborhoods.

The HONK! Festival is free and open to all; if interested in volunteering, contact volunteer@honkfest.org.