MultiFest at 36: Four Nights, One Riverbank, and 112 Closing It Out

The Levee's summer Fridays wrap up, and the riverbank barely gets to cool off before the biggest party of the Charleston calendar rolls in. MultiFest — West Virginia's flagship multicultural festival — returns to Haddad Riverfront Park August 6–9 for its 36th year, and the 2026 music lineup is stacked deep enough to justify all four days.

Here's the run of show. Thursday, Aug. 6 opens with a multicultural parade at 5 p.m., then Southern-soul artist Lamar Brace headlining at 9:15. Friday, Aug. 7 brings R&B singer J Holiday at 8:15, followed by '90s R&B trio Kut Klose at 9:15. Saturday, Aug. 8 is the marquee: Atlanta legends 112 — of "Cupid" and "Peaches & Cream" fame — take the stage at 9. And Sunday, Aug. 9 closes with Nashville gospel group Rizen at 4:15, then hip-hop history in the form of the Sugar Hill Gang, plus the Stratus Band, with fireworks scheduled to cap the weekend at 9:40.

That is a genuinely remarkable four-night bill for a free-spirited community festival in a city of fifty thousand — the kind of lineup that would headline festivals in markets ten times Charleston's size. The fact that it lands here, every August, on the same grass where the Levee series plays out, says something about what this riverfront has become.

MultiFest has never been only about the music, and its organizers say so plainly. "It shows that we can work together and learn from one another," executive director Tamara Eubanks said of the festival's staying power. Charleston Mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin framed it as civic glue: "It's an opportunity to connect, to be together, to share experiences," she said, stressing the community's need to "listen and learn from one another." Thirty-six years in, that mission has outlasted trends, budgets, and more than a few doubters.

For the practical planner: four nights, one park, a parade, food that spans a dozen cultures, and headliners — J Holiday, 112, the Sugar Hill Gang — who each carry a room on name recognition alone. Bring cash, bring patience for the crowds, and bring somebody who's never been.

Because here's the thing about a festival that's made it to 36: it isn't a novelty anymore, it's an inheritance. Charleston built this, kept it, and grew it into one of the region's essential summer weekends. The least the rest of us can do is show up and dance to 112 on a Saturday night by the river.

Sources: WV Gazette-Mail — MultiFest kicks off at Haddad Park; WOWK — Multifest returns to Charleston for 36th year