HONK!

Fest, is a festival of activist street bands held annually on Indigenous Peoples' Day weekend in Somerville, Massachusetts.

HONK!s so far have been staged in Somerville, Massachusetts; Seattle, Washington; Austin, Texas; Providence, Rhode Island; New York, New York; Eugene, Oregon; Montpelier, Vermont; Spokane, Washington; Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Brasília, Brazil; and Wollongong, NSW, Australia.

invites twelve to over thirty bands, who play multiple sets in outdoor public spaces over the course of two or three days.

share common characteristics: they are ambulatory, they use instruments that can be simultaneously carried and played, and they utilize little or no electronic amplification.

band may exist for a specific purpose—some perform primarily at activist events, for instance—but they are typically autonomous entities not affiliated with another organization.

[2] It was begun by a committee of members from a Somerville activist band, The Second Line Social Aid and Pleasure Society Brass Band, who saw the need for a gathering of like-minded souls interested in applying the joy of music to the work of promoting peace, social justice, and civic engagement.

was born in 2007 when The Pink Puffers (Rome, Italy), Environmental Encroachment (Chicago), and March Fourth (Portland, Oregon), visited New York City[7] following that year’s HONK!

Events around the city included a dinner party at the space The Change You Want to See on Havermeyer Street, hosted by members of Brooklyn’s Hungry March Band.

This set up a tradition of creating events for bands that wanted to visit NYC and play gigs after HONK!

[10] In addition to small parades and free outdoor gigs, HONK NYC also has ticketed nighttime events in clubs and warehouse spaces.

The 2011 festival took place on East Sixth Street on Friday, in the North University neighborhood on Saturday, and, following a march through the center of Austin, in Pan-Am Park on Sunday.

was founded in June 2015 when local Brazilian percussion ensemble Samba Ja hosted SambAmore (Arcata, CA), Environmental Encroachment (Chicago), Junkadelic (Australia) along with local bands Kef, The Beatcrunchers, and High Step Street Band on 2 outdoor stages.

[16] HONK SP takes place in São Paulo, Brasil and started in November 2017, bringing together a vast number of groups, including Brass Bands and Carnival "Blocos", occupying the city's districts.

Festival and it was organized by Open Air Orchestra Society (The Carnival Band, Greenhorn Community Music Project).