There are a few things you need for a really great music festival. Obviously great music, but also great scenery. And almost as important as the music? Great vibes and the opportunity to really express yourself and hang with your people. We found all of those at the Gaes and Faes festival in Decorah this year!
This was the third year of Gays and Faes, held at South Bear School in Decorah. The festival is driven by its stated objective of creating “a place for radical self-expression, vocal community support, and abundant love.” After making the event just a little bit bigger each year, in 2026 organizers decided they wanted to make Gays and Faes “a destination.”
The wooded area surrounding South Bear School is an ideal location for an event like this. It's tranquil and beautiful, with enough open areas for stages, activities and camping. A creek that runs through the woods also provided festival-goers with a bit of a respite later in the day. There were also lots of decorations — amazing sculptures, streamers hanging from trees to resemble jellyfish, you get the idea. All the concert-goers were dressed in their Sunday best, which consisted of elf ears, flowy dresses and fairy wings against band tank tops, abundant tattoos and ripped jean shorts.
Much like the Lost Woods Festival, held in September in Cedar Falls, Gays and Faes excels at creating a brand new place that exists for a very short time. But this was also a music festival, so how was the music?
Pretty darn great!
We’d hesitate to say that Gays and Faes offered the traditional “something for everyone” when it comes to music, but everyone we heard perform sounded great and fit the bill. Mary Jam and Heet Deth both rocked out with a combination of humor and rage, providing a lot of catharsis for the crowd, but also a lot of dancing and laughter.
Other bands weren’t quite as rock-y, but were perfect for the wooded setting. Full Spectrum Bluegrass were, as you may have guessed, an outstanding bluegrass and Americana-influenced band that got Saturday off to a great start. And then there was autumnal, a self-described “fuzz-folk” band from Fort Collins, Colorado (Erin Fuller was very excited to hear they were coming, as a fellow Coloradan!). Although difficult to describe, they sound like a magical, woodland area that your Dungeons and Dragons group might find themselves in.
While we didn’t get to see them in action, Iowa City band Early Girl opened the festival on Friday evening. As soon as we got there, we met up and sat together for a bit in the grassy field at the Boneyard Stage. Each member brought their own object to keep their hands busy, which included Gameboys, half-stitched dresses, tiny chess and beer cans. It’s always nice to see local acts out in the wild, especially in a special place like this.
Gays and Faes also offered camping, which was very popular and accessible from the festival grounds, and we’d be remiss if we didn’t point out one other thing: This is one of the few festivals we’ve been to that allows outside food and beverages. Granted, most of the people we saw with drinks were camping and kept the coolers at their tents. Still, it was a nice touch and a nod to the reality of festival expenses, which can add up quickly.
I’d love to tell you we made it all the way to the end of Gays and Faes. We were under the impression that the event ended at 10 p.m. on Saturday, which is pretty late, but not outrageous. But then we learned that the gates closed at 10 and the festivities would continue well past that time, so we made the decision to head home.
If you're looking for a community DIY weekend that's a safe space for queers to find new community within a medieval experience, this fest needs to be on your "to attend" list. Every interaction involved sappy grins, excited squeals and passionate conversations about music, fashion and identity. And who knows? Maybe you'll find us camping there next year!
