With the volatile weather this summer and uncertainty as smoke drifts across the Billings skyline this week, one thing has remained constant for more than a decade: Julia Louis-Dreyfest.
The city's annual DIY arts and music festival returns Thursday, Aug. 6, for its 12th edition, once again transforming downtown into four days of punk shows, folk music, poetry, art and the kind of organized chaos that has quietly become one of Billings' most enduring summer traditions.
“It’s definitely like a celebration of people that don’t fit in in any legible way, which is maybe the coolest thing to see about Dreyfest,” said Austin Finn, the festival’s organizer and frontman of Idaho Green. “It’s just like all walks of life, especially as outsiders like weirdos. I think places like Billings are especially interesting to me in that way.”
Finn said for people growing up in parts of Billings that lack “a cohesive subculture,” it’s hard to find a “critical mass of solidarity.” Dreyfest provides a community for a large swath of people that can be isolated and marginalized elsewhere.
For newcomers, Dreyfest can be a chaos that seems difficult to explain — that's how it's meant to be.
What you might see this year are noisy metal and EDM concerts, softer singer-songwriter songs, a poetry jam, a Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Richard Dreyfuss look-alike contest that allow people to dress up as character Elaine Benes from sitcom "Seinfeld" or Matt Hooper from "Jaws," local artists selling stickers and artwork dispersing, and potentially crowds that seem just as happy wandering from one of the the seven downtown venue to the next as they are watching whoever happens to be on stage.
“We try to mix it up,” Finn said. “We try to keep it sort of wacky and loose, and I hate to say unserious, but we certainly don’t take ourselves too seriously — I always hate to be accused of that.”
That free vibe and sense of belonging may explain why Dreyfest has lasted. Grassroots music festivals often disappear after a few years, undone by money, burnout or the pressure to become something bigger. Finn said Dreyfest has survived precisely because organizers resisted that temptation.
“The main thing is that we have stayed scalable,” he said. “I've always fought against expanding the festival. We try to solve the problem of how can we do this as cheaply as possible. If we can do that, we maximize the odds of not quitting."
Success, he said, isn't measured by attendance records or bigger stages. Keeping the same size and fun every year is a win to him.
Although Finn has lived in New York City since 2016, he said organizers have intentionally shifted more responsibility back to Billings residents, believing the festival should reflect the people who actually live here.
"It felt weird making decisions for a festival that's supposed to be about Billings without living, sleeping, eating and working in Billings," he said. "It deserves to be run by people that live in Billings."
This year's festival includes a larger committee of local volunteers helping organize everything from operations to sponsorships, continuing the festival's DIY spirit while making it even more community-driven.
For longtime musician Phil Griffin, that community is what keeps bringing people back.
Griffin first played Dreyfest years ago before later helping organize it himself. Now living in Bozeman, he's returning again this weekend to perform with both of his bands — Bull Market and Hair Machine — and help behind the scenes.
“It's just a super cool festival — it's like a baby that we pass around every year,” Griffin said. “Every year, all the freaks come together and see each other. A lot of us don't really even see each other except for at Dreyfest, so it’s just a good opportunity to hang out with old friends.”
As a 33-year-old born and raised in Billings, he said Dreyfest is like a family reunion to his generation of musicians. He grew up with the company of Dreyfest, a sanctuary that provided an alternative for kids, especially the non-sporty ones, to be themselves and do their own thing.
Griffin believes Dreyfest has done more than simply showcase local bands. It has helped grow the next generation.
Years ago, teenagers showed up to watch local musicians perform. Today, some of those same teenagers have their own bands.
Over the years, Griffin witnessed rising musicians and bands scattered across Montana and beyond. Some are now based in Minneapolis. Others, like Finn, moved to New York. Yet every summer many find themselves back in downtown Billings.
“It's been pretty cool to be part of an incubator like that,” Griffin said. “You go to a show and you have a good time and you say, ‘Wow, maybe I could do that sometime!’ Then next thing you know, you're starting a band — a cool way for dreams to come true.”
While loud drums and guitars may be Dreyfest's most recognizable soundtrack, music is only part of the festival.
Saturday's Poetry Jam at 7 p.m. will bring together first-time writers, published poets and everyone in between.
Anne Holub, a Billings freelance writer and poet hosting the event, said the goal is simple: create a place where creative people can share their work, regardless of age and background.
“I love that we get to be part of Dreyfest, even though we operate off to the side in a way,” Holub said. “The way it fits with Dreyfest is it still is a little indie… It’s a great kind of ‘everybody’s invited’ spirit, and that’s what I love about Dreyfest: it’s wild, unexpected.”
Holub said Poetry Jam will be like a “poet prom,” as it can be a festive, special space for poet friends to gather and celebrate once a summer.
She’s also planning for a raffle this year for participants to win jam, movie tickets, a CD of Taylor Swift’s recent album "The Tortured Poets Department" and various poetry-themed items.
A blind date with a poet is something new for this year. An assortment of great books of poetry selling for $10 each will be wrapped in brown paper with hints about why people should read them. All the profits gained from the raffle and the blind date activity goes to the Young Poets Program, a nonprofit that sends local poets like Holub into Billings elementary schools to teach creative writing.
"Music and creative writing go hand in hand,” Holub said. “It's that same ‘I’m going to take some feelings, put them out of my head, out of my heart’ into a format that people get to digest — it’s maybe not music, but it’s still lyric when it’s coming out as poetry.”
The Dreyfest will kick off Thursday with band The Academy of the Holy Fool at 6:30 p.m. in Thirsty Street Brewing Co. in downtown Billings.
That style can be difficult to define, but easy to recognize.
“We’re vouching that it’s gonna be interesting, even if it’s not something that you were expecting when you walked in the door,” Holub said. "Dreyfest is a buffet… Just all sorts of great things that you can sample.”