# Festival Stats 2025

Someone asked me which contra dance bands and callers played the most major gigs in 2025, which reminded me that I hadn't put out my annual post yet! Here's what I have, drawing from the [big spreadsheet](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fQq7pTtNVMYVRgOPbjNz2jnyw4RABGrQoplrSQntbn8/edit?gid=1187858755#gid=1187858755) that backs [TryContra Events](https://www.trycontra.com/events).

In 2025 we were up to 142 events, which is an increase of 9% from 2024 (131), and above pre-pandemic numbers. New events included [Chain Reaction](https://deffa.org/event/chain-reaction-maine-contra-dance-weekend/) (Maine dance weekend), [Galhala](https://www.shedances.org/galhalla) (women's dance weekend), and [On to the Next](https://ontothenext.pdxcontra.org/) (one-day queer-normative dance event). Additionally, a few events returned for the first time since the pandemic (ex: [Lava Meltdown](https://www.lavameltdown.com/)).

For bands, [River Road](https://www.riverroadtrad.com/) and [Countercurrent](https://countercurrentmusic.com/) continue to be very popular, with the [Dam Beavers](https://thedambeavers.band/) edging out [Playing with Fyre](https://georgepaulmusic.com/bands/playingwithfyre/) for third. For callers it's Will Mentor, Alex Deis-Lauby, and Lisa Greenleaf, which is the first time a Millenial has made it into the top two. This is also a larger trend: in 2024 there was only one Millennial (still Alex) in the top ten and in 2023 there were zero; in 2025 there were three (Michael Karcher and Lindsey Dono in addition to Alex). While bands don't have generations the same way individuals do, bands definitely skew younger: in something like seven of the top ten bands the median member is Millennial or younger.

When listing bands and callers, my goal is to count ones with at least two big bookings, operationalized as events with at least 9hr of contra dancing. Ties are broken randomly (no longer alphabetically!) Let me know if I've missed anything?

**Bands**

| River Road | 13  |
| --- | --- |
| Countercurrent | 11  |
| The Dam Beavers | 10  |
| Playing with Fyre | 8   |
| Toss the Possum | 7   |
| Kingfisher | 6   |
| The Engine Room | 6   |
| The Stringrays | 5   |
| Supertrad | 5   |
| Stomp Rocket | 5   |
| Wild Asparagus | 5   |
| Topspin | 4   |
| The Free Raisins | 4   |
| Northwoods | 4   |
| Stove Dragon | 4   |
| The Mean Lids | 3   |
| Red Case Band | 3   |
| Spintuition | 3   |
| Turnip the Beet | 3   |
| Hot Coffee Breakdown | 3   |
| Thunderwing | 3   |
| Raven & Goose | 3   |
| Good Company | 3   |
| Joyride | 3   |
| The Gaslight Tinkers | 3   |
| Chimney Swift | 2   |
| The Moving Violations | 2   |
| The Syncopaths | 2   |
| The Latter Day Lizards | 2   |
| Lighthouse | 2   |
| Root System | 2   |
| Contraforce | 2   |
| Sugar River Band | 2   |
| The Berea Castoffs | 2   |
| The Fiddle Hellions | 2   |
| Lift Ticket | 2   |
| The Buzz Band | 2   |
| The Faux Paws | 2   |
| Nova | 2   |

**Callers**

| Will Mentor | 17  |
| --- | --- |
| Alex Deis-Lauby | 14  |
| Lisa Greenleaf | 14  |
| Gaye Fifer | 13  |
| Michael Karcher | 11  |
| Lindsey Dono | 10  |
| Seth Tepfer | 10  |
| Steve Zakon-Anderson | 8   |
| Bob Isaacs | 7   |
| Darlene Underwood | 7   |
| Terry Doyle | 6   |
| Adina Gordon | 6   |
| George Marshall | 5   |
| Sue Rosen | 5   |
| Cis Hinkle | 5   |
| Mary Wesley | 5   |
| Rick Mohr | 5   |
| Koren Wake | 4   |
| Wendy Graham | 4   |
| Jeremy Korr | 4   |
| Luke Donforth | 4   |
| Susan Petrick | 4   |
| Dereck Kalish | 3   |
| Warren Doyle | 3   |
| Angela DeCarlis | 3   |
| Jacqui Grennan | 3   |
| Maia McCormick | 3   |
| Emily Rush | 3   |
| Lyss Adkins | 3   |
| Janine Smith | 3   |
| Devin Pohly | 3   |
| Claire Takemori | 3   |
| Qwill Duvall | 2   |
| Frannie Marr | 2   |
| Bev Bernbaum | 2   |
| Janet Shepherd | 2   |
| Diane Silver | 2   |
| Chris Bischoff | 2   |
| Ben Sachs-Hamilton | 2   |
| Timothy Klein | 2   |
| Kenny Greer | 2   |
| Isaac Banner | 2   |
| Susan Kevra | 2   |