Since it began in 2019, the Halfway to Everywhere Music and Arts Festival has always been in downtown Emporia — although stage locations changed last year as part of a list of adjustments. The plan now is to move the festival out of downtown.
Halfway founder Hank Osterhout confirmed plans to move the festival to Champions Landing during KVOE’s Morning Show on Thursday, citing the property’s nearly 90 acres of available space, fishing, amenities and the chance to bring camping to the event for the first time in its history. Osterhout also says this opens up new collaborations for the event.
Due to the scope of that change, Osterhout says some operations may be scaled back for the 2025 event.
Osterhout says the conversation about a possible move to Champions Landing was a big reason why the main stage moved to the downtown property Rusco owns that was turned into the Emporia Food Truck Plaza last year.
The other big change from last year to this is to move the event date. Traditionally, the event has been on Labor Day weekend, although it moved to the weekend after Labor Day last year. Halfway will take place Oct. 10-12 this fall.
Bands have not been announced, but Osterhout says some bands could be revealed around the time of the Dynamic Discs Open disc golf tournament April 25-27. Osterhout anticipates a lot of cross-promotion activities between Halfway and Dynamic Discs this year.
