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Let’s give a big THANK YOU to our incredible chef teams!

Behind every meal you eat this week, there are hands that shaped it. And those hands tell a story worth pausing on.

August 9, 2026

We'd like to take a moment to recognize some more stars from our Campout lineup – our chef teams. We put as much intention and care into who we are working with and what we are presenting as we do our music artists, speakers, and performers. We believe in this lineup and love that they get to share their art and life experiences with all of us through their food. This isn't your typical festival food – this is food by people who give a shit and who love what they do.

We want to hand the mic over to our Curator of Chefs & Cuisine, Casey Schroeder:

Behind every meal you eat this week, there are hands that shaped it.  And those hands tell a story worth pausing on.
Our kitchen crews are as varied as the community they feed. They draw from different corners of queer culture and different culinary traditions passed down through family kitchens, restaurant lines, and hard-won self-teaching. That diversity isn’t incidental – it’s the point. No single group carries that weight alone. The labor is shared, the way care in a real community is shared—unevenly in the moment, but generously, and by many hands over time.
Kitchen work is grueling. It’s full of early mornings and late nights, and it happens in two places at once. There are the faces you see at the food court, serving with warmth. And there are the ones you don’t—the crew back in the kitchen, prepping, cooking, and cleaning long before the line opens and long after it closes. Both are holding Campout up. Both deserve to be seen.
So we’re asking something small in return: say thank you. Both to the person handing you your plate, and to the crew working behind them. When you walk past the kitchen, stop. Say thank you. Give a shout, a clap, a smile, whatever’s honest for you in the moment. Let everyone who touched your meal know their care was seen and appreciated.

Please take a moment to see all of our chefs and read their stories on our "Eat & Drink" page.