Next weekend, the 3,200-person town of Millvale will find itself filled with an eye-popping 20,000 people. What’s the occasion? The ninth Millvale Music Festival, which will bring 350 live acts to the borough May 15-16.
“I think the Music Fest has a big part in showcasing how cool a neighborhood it is,” said Paul Bossung, organizer of the Millvale Music Festival. “All of a sudden now there’s more and more investment into the neighborhood from homeowners and developers and businesses.”
Bossung moved to Millvale in 2005, just a year after flooding from Hurricane Ivan caused strife for home and business owners there. Fortunately, the community has bounced back, and many of its members — including Bossung, who is now a borough council member — have put down deep roots there.
From the first Millvale Music Festival, that robust community showed out — and the rest of the Pittsburgh region did, too. “We probably anticipated 30 bands that first year. We ended up with over 100,” Bossung said.
This year, there will be more than triple that number, and Bossung said that their booking committee fielded more than 850 applications to perform. In addition to musical acts, the festival will also include visual art, spoken word poetry, comedians and more.
Among those 350 acts, attendees will find plenty to satisfy their musical taste.
“We have jazz, we have blues, we have R&B. We’ve had a classical stage the last three years, which is really cool. Folk, bluegrass, rap, DJs. We have a couple of EDM [electronic dance music] stages,” Bossung recounted.
He added that while punk rock might have a slight edge over other genres when it comes to quantity, the festival organizers strive to balance different styles over the 31 stages around Millvale.
It’s also a great chance to try something new, the organizer said.
“We’ve got 20,000 people walking around and if they thought something different about EDM, maybe they walk by and actually start bouncing their hips and say, ‘Oh, this is pretty cool.’ ”
That same adventurous spirit brings festivalgoers into new bars and restaurants and ordering from new food trucks. The Millvale Music Festival has a couple of new locations this year to add to 2025’s list, and all of the stages are within about 0.6 miles of each other.
The three new venues are Taproom 616, a relaxed bar atmosphere perfect for music; Mexican restaurant Tasty Taquitos, which Bossung said will host music in its side parking lot; and Winston’s Custard, a brand-new business where customers can get grilled food and delicious, cool treats.
Bossung called the festival a boost for Millvale overall.
“I think it’s just the attention on the community and the folks that have had the chance to experience all the small businesses,” he said.
Millvale is just outside Pittsburgh city limits. Bossung said that getting more locals to explore the area has been a boon for Millvale’s revitalization efforts.
Though the logistics of cramming so many revelers into a small town can be daunting, the organizers suggest carpooling, biking and taking public transport to the festival. There is also a Millvale Music Festival app that will allow guests to see schedules and maps, and to plan their visit more smoothly.
To see more about the Millvale Music Festival, visit millvalemusic.org.