Archive: Here Comes the Sun Rock Festival (2026)

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 June 26–27, 2026 | Payson Memorial Park | Payson, Utah

For the sixth time, Utah Live Concerts Foundation returned to Payson Memorial Park for our annual Here Comes the Sun Rock Festival, bringing two full days of live music, family-friendly activities, giveaways, and community celebration to Payson City!

We absolutely love hosting this festival in Payson and working with the City to make it happen. Over the years, this event has become one of our favorite traditions, and 2026 was another memorable chapter!

One of our goals for 2026 was to introduce even more young musicians into our lineup, bringing fresh sounds and new energy to the festival.

We were excited to feature several winning bands from the Utah PTA High School Battle of the Bands competition, including Tesseract, Diona, and Gralley, along with talented solo competition winners Jonah Blaney and Ella McQuay.

While we've always included young musicians in our festivals, this year we made a special effort to put the spotlight on emerging talent. And they certainly delivered! It was exciting to watch these young performers share the stage with seasoned musicians and introduce our audiences to a whole new generation of Utah rock and roll talent.

Mother Nature has thrown us a few challenges over the years in Payson, including some memorable rainstorms. Fortunately, we didn't have to worry about rain in 2026. Instead, we got WIND!

And we're not talking about a gentle summer breeze!

Both days of the festival brought unusually powerful winds across Utah, making headlines as wildfires spread and smoke and ash darkened skies in parts of the state. Conditions were so dramatic that some of our musicians called to ask whether the festival was still happening!

We had our share of challenges, including a sound tent that decided it wanted to become airborne and a few gusts that kept everyone on their toes. But through it all, the music never stopped!

Despite the wild weather, we managed to have a pretty hot time in Payson. (And considering the fires around the state, we'll apologize for that pun!)

We added several new audience participation activities this year, giving festivalgoers even more ways to join in the fun.

Our new "Rock the Chalk" sidewalk art competition brought out some wonderful creativity, with colorful masterpieces appearing along the walkways throughout the park.

Our Rock and Roll Photo Booth was another big hit! With wigs, sunglasses, inflatable guitars, leather accessories, and other rock-star props, festivalgoers had a blast dressing up and posing for photos while enjoying the music.

We also set up a long community art table covered with white paper, inviting everyone to leave their mark. What started as a blank canvas quickly became a colorful collection of drawings, messages, graffiti, and even a few surprisingly profound observations!

It was wonderful seeing so many people of all ages getting creative and having fun together.

Of course, no Here Comes the Sun festival would be complete without our traditional sponsor giveaways!

Once again, our generous sponsors stepped up with an incredible assortment of prizes, including:

• Boothe Brothers Music — An acoustic guitar.
• Dave's Bernina — A computerized sewing machine.
• In-N-Out Burger — More than 200 free meal cards.
• Splash Summit Waterpark — Several annual memberships and more than 150 free admission passes.

And those were just some of the many prizes and giveaways our audiences enjoyed throughout the weekend!

We're incredibly grateful to the businesses and organizations that continue to support this free community event. Their generosity helps make the festival something special for everyone who attends.

At the heart of it all, of course, was the MUSIC!

Eighteen bands performed over the two-day festival, treating audiences to a wonderful variety of live music spanning several decades.

From familiar rock classics to exciting new sounds, there was something for just about everyone. And one thing we noticed this year was that more people were dancing than ever before!

Whether they were dancing in front of the stage, singing along with their favorite songs, or simply relaxing on the grass with family and friends, our audiences reminded us why we love producing these events.

There's just something special about live music that brings people together!

This year's festival was also a little bittersweet.

We learned that Janeen Dean, Payson City's Community & Cultural Event Coordinator, who helped us launch Here Comes the Sun six years ago, would be retiring.

Janeen has been an important part of this festival from the very beginning, helping us work with Payson City to turn an idea into a wonderful annual community tradition.

We're certainly going to miss working with her!

Janeen shared her hope that Here Comes the Sun will continue as a Payson City event for many years to come. We couldn't agree more!

We want to express our sincere appreciation to Janeen for her friendship, encouragement, and years of support in helping make this festival possible. We wish her all the best in her retirement!

Looking back on Here Comes the Sun 2026, we're reminded once again why we love bringing live music to this community.

Despite some challenging weather, we enjoyed two fantastic days filled with talented musicians, enthusiastic audiences, creative activities, wonderful prizes, and plenty of great rock and roll!

Our sincere thanks go to Payson City, our generous sponsors, the musicians, volunteers, and everyone who came out to celebrate with us.

We're especially grateful for the continued support of Payson City's PARC program, which helps make this free community festival possible.

Here's to another great year of Here Comes the Sun, and hopefully many more to come!

Keep supporting LIVE music!