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Imagine Music & Arts Festival 2026 is officially returning to Orcas Island in Washington’s San Juan Islands from September 11-13.
The setting is Doe Bay Resort & Retreat, a 38-acre waterfront property surrounded by forest, beaches and the kind of Pacific Northwest scenery that makes a normal festival parking lot feel deeply inadequate.
The 2026 music lineup includes Moontricks, Ayla Nereo, KAMAUU, Ruby Chase, Random Rab, Bluetech, HABITAAT, Yemanjo featuring Irene Rosalia, Shylah Ray, Samuel J, Youssoupha Sidibe, Max Ribner and a deep roster of live musicians and electronic artists.
And unlike a lot of festivals, the music is only part of the point.
➜ The real story: Imagine is basically the opposite of the giant EDM-festival arms race. Instead of trying to build the biggest LED wall on Earth, it puts music, performance art, workshops, camping, forest, ocean and community into one small island gathering and lets the location do a lot of the flexing.
Tickets are on sale now.
The current full festival ticket is $325 and includes general camping, plus access to the music, performances and workshops happening throughout September 11-13.
There’s also a $225 Saturday and Sunday pass, $75 Thursday Early Entry, kid and elder pricing, separate car-camping upgrades and even a festival foot ferry that can take you directly from Anacortes to Doe Bay.
Imagine Music & Arts Festival 2026 takes place Friday, September 11 through Sunday, September 13 at Doe Bay Resort & Retreat on Orcas Island, Washington.
Festival gates open Friday at 10 AM.
Everyone has to leave the festival grounds by noon Monday, September 14.
If you’re the type who needs a full day to remember which bag contains the tent stakes, there’s also Thursday Early Entry.
The Early Entry gate opens Thursday, September 10 at 1 PM.
Thursday also includes an open mic night at Doe Bay Café, giving early arrivals something considerably more interesting to do than staring at their campsite and congratulating themselves for getting there first.
Imagine is an all-ages, family-friendly event.
Anyone under 18 has to attend with a parent.
There’s also a kids zone and dedicated family and elder camping areas.
Get current festival information from the official Imagine Music & Arts Festival website.
The Imagine 2026 music lineup is fully taking shape, and it’s much more eclectic than a normal genre-specific festival bill.
Moontricks sit near the top of the lineup with their mix of electronic production, live instrumentation and rootsy songwriting.
Ayla Nereo, KAMAUU and Ruby Chase are also among the major 2026 names.
Random Rab and Bluetech bring the deeper electronic side of the gathering, while HABITAAT and Yemanjo featuring Irene Rosalia push things in still more directions.
The lineup continues with Shylah Ray, Samuel J, Youssoupha Sidibe, Max Ribner, Alexa Sunshine Rose, Rafe Pearlman, Chihsuan, Sheena Medicina, Luke Mandala and Sorne.
There’s also Shelby Natasha, Khem Reyall, LŪKA, WOLFCHILD, Family Mystic, Ian Love, Finn & Heyona, Deva Runa, Noah Proudfoot, Rob Noble and Michael Manahan.
Jamie Schwabl, RAMIRO, Sarah Conner, Jyoti B.Fly, LGSP, Buckmode, Bodicypha, Jila Ji, Pongkhi, Darek Mazzone, Daniel Berkman, Zje Mongol, Al Torre, Adam Starr, Algorhythm and J4ME5 round out the current official music page.
This isn’t really a headliner-first festival.
The booking makes more sense as a continuous weekend of electronic music, live songwriting, world influences, collaborative performance and immersive listening.
Get the complete artist list from the official Imagine Music & Arts Festival lineup.
The current full Imagine Music & Arts Festival ticket costs $325.
And there’s a major difference between that price and tickets at a lot of destination festivals: general camping is already included.
The ticket includes access to the music, performance art and workshops happening throughout September 11-13.
Earlier ticket tiers have already sold out.
The $275 Early Bird ticket is sold out, and the $300 Presale ticket is sold out too.
A Saturday and Sunday Weekend Pass is currently $225.
Thursday Early Entry costs $75.
That lets you arrive September 10 at 1 PM, set up early and attend Thursday’s open mic event.
Kids ages 6 through 18 can attend for $50.
Children younger than 6 are free.
There’s also an Elder Imagine Festival Ticket for guests 65 and older at $225.
Parking costs $45 per vehicle.
Off-site car camping, where you sleep inside your vehicle near the main gate, is currently $150.
Onsite Car Camping at $225 is sold out, and Forest Car Camping at $275 is also sold out.
All ticket sales are final, so this isn’t really the place for a spontaneous “buy now, decide whether I like ferries later” strategy.
Get current availability from the official Imagine Festival 2026 tickets page.
Imagine is built around staying on Orcas Island for the weekend.
General tent camping is included with festival ticket types, which makes the pricing a lot easier to understand than festivals where admission and the place you’re sleeping live in completely different checkout tabs.
The campground gives you access to drinking water, showers, toilets and porta potties.
There are also family and elder camping areas.
Cooking at camp is allowed with safe camping stoves, but fires aren’t allowed.
If sleeping in a tent isn’t your thing, the festival has offered several car-camping categories.
Off-site car camping near the main gate is still available at $150.
Onsite Car Camping and Forest Car Camping are currently sold out.
Doe Bay also has cabins and other accommodations, but festival lodging availability is tightly managed.
The official FAQ says Doe Bay accommodations were made available to eligible Early Bird ticket holders and asks festival guests not to contact Doe Bay directly looking for festival lodging.
Imagine has one logistical detail you don’t get at most festivals: you have to get onto an island first.
Orcas Island is part of Washington’s San Juan Islands.
The normal route starts in Anacortes, Washington, where Washington State Ferries operates service to Orcas Island.
Vehicle ferry reservations are strongly worth planning in advance.
After arriving at the Orcas Island Ferry Terminal, Doe Bay Resort is roughly 20 miles away, or about a 35-minute drive.
There isn’t public transit on Orcas Island.
The festival recommends bringing a vehicle or carpooling, especially because parking space is limited.
There’s another option that is much more interesting.
Imagine operates a festival Foot Ferry from Skyline Marina in Anacortes directly to Doe Bay.
That skips the vehicle-ferry process and takes passengers straight to the festival side of Orcas Island.
You can even arrive by your own boat and anchor in Doe Bay Cove, although private vessels have to be pre-registered with the festival and check in with its harbor master.
Get the current transportation rundown from the official Imagine Festival directions page.
Imagine happens at Doe Bay Resort & Retreat on the eastern side of Orcas Island.
The property covers 38 acres of waterfront land in the San Juan Islands and sits beside old-growth forest around Moran State Park.
There are two beaches and a cove where boats can anchor.
So yes, this is technically a festival venue, but it also looks like somebody found an expensive Pacific Northwest wellness retreat and decided it needed live electronic music.
Doe Bay has community bathhouses, showers and its own café.
The café focuses on seasonal pescatarian food with vegetarian and vegan options, and the festival also brings in additional food and drink vendors.
There’s a Doe Bay store with snacks, drinks, camping supplies and other basics for the inevitable moment when you discover you packed six layers of clothing and zero toothpaste.
The resort also has outdoor soaking tubs, sauna facilities and a waterfall-facing spa area.
Spa access requires a separate paid booking.
Get the current venue details from the official Imagine Festival venue page.
The “Arts” part of Imagine Music & Arts Festival isn’t just branding.
The festival is built as a multi-disciplinary gathering where music sits next to visual art, performance, movement, workshops and community participation.
Imagine’s workshop programme includes hands-on art, live painting, yoga, ecstatic dance, circus arts, meditation and discussion.
The current workshop programme includes Imagine Awakening Wisdom, Compassion and Courage with Dr. Joel and Michelle Levey, the PATH philosophy and meditation workshop with David Chin and a Kung Fu Tea Ceremony with Joney Poon.
There’s also Protectors of the Salish Sea with Paul Chiyokten, Soul Voice Singing with Shylah Ray and Seven Realms Integration Meditation with Erik Blender.
The visual and performance side includes fire dancers, aerialists, interactive performance, theater and live visual art.
That changes the rhythm of the weekend.
You don’t have to spend twelve consecutive hours sprinting between music stages trying to maximize your ticket like you’re solving an entertainment spreadsheet.
You can actually stop and do something.
Get the current programme from the official Imagine workshops page.
Imagine has been building this community on Orcas Island since 2015.
The organizers describe it as a multi-disciplinary showcase of music, art and performance built around community participation and creativity.
That’s a pretty different mission from simply booking recognizable names and putting them in front of the largest possible stage.
The island location naturally keeps the scale more intimate.
Ferry logistics keep the arrival deliberate.
Camping keeps the community together for the weekend.
Then the mix of music, workshops, performers and art gives people a reason to do something besides stand in front of speakers from noon until bedtime.
It’s also starting to grow beyond Washington.
Imagine is launching its first Thailand edition from December 30, 2026 through January 1, 2027, bringing the festival’s music, visual art and performance concept to Northern Thailand.
That’s a pretty big expansion for something that still feels deeply connected to one very specific corner of the Pacific Northwest.
Imagine Music & Arts Festival 2026 takes place Friday, September 11 through Sunday, September 13 at Doe Bay Resort & Retreat on Orcas Island, Washington. Gates open Friday at 10 AM, with optional Thursday Early Entry beginning September 10 at 1 PM.
The Imagine Music & Arts Festival 2026 lineup includes Moontricks, Ayla Nereo, KAMAUU, Ruby Chase, Random Rab, Bluetech, HABITAAT, Yemanjo featuring Irene Rosalia, Shylah Ray, Samuel J, Youssoupha Sidibe, Max Ribner, Alexa Sunshine Rose, Luke Mandala and many more.
The current full festival ticket costs $325 and includes general camping. A Saturday and Sunday Weekend Pass is $225, Thursday Early Entry is $75, parking costs $45 and kid tickets for ages 6 through 18 cost $50.
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