At Stateside, 26 Golden Retrievers Became Part of the Festival’s Quiet Texture

A new Independence Day festival in Kingston, New York, drew a crowd for Noah Kahan’s headlining set, Gigi Perez’s rising voice, and the local ache of Arcy Drive. But the most persistent presence on the grounds of Hutton Brickyards wasn’t an artist or a stage effect. It was 26 golden retrievers.

Stateside, held on July 4th across 100 acres of riverfront grass, had the bones of a regional festival with ambition. The lineup tilted folk and warm indie, and the setting—90 minutes from Manhattan, with Hudson River views—kept it intimate. What made it strange was how a car-rental company’s marketing became part of the atmosphere without totally flattening it. Hertz deployed its “Gold Squad,” a fleet of goldens trained to greet travelers, at the festival entrance, at a lemonade stand handing out dog-shaped popsicles, and in a shaded hangout by the river. Two dogs in booties and headphones even lingered near the platinum lounge during Kahan’s set.

For artists like Sydney Rose and Nick Mateyunas of Arcy Drive, the drive up in a Hertz rental felt tied to the festival’s spirit. “I’ve never been more excited,” Rose said. They talked about road trips as a creative space, the kind of memory that holds. Then they arrived to find the same dogs at the gate.

The retrievers didn’t upstage the music, but they turned the edges of the event into something less guarded. A festival can be a friction zone between brand money and genuine gathering. At Stateside, the dogs just lay there, waiting to be petted, and no one seemed to mind.