Two organizations—each started to fill a cultural need—are teaming up to showcase local love.
The Midnight Faire is an alternative market hosting vendors, music, food and fun. Biggest Little Bands is an online collective of journalists, photographers and videographers spotlighting local bands—and the organizations are working together to produce For the Love of Reno, showcasing live music, DJs, activities, vendors and more. It will take place Friday, Feb. 13, at Club Underground.
Kayla Duane started The Midnight Faire in December 2024.
“I saw my friend in Ohio was doing vending for similar market-type events, and I was like, ‘Wow, that’s so cool,’” Duane said. “We don’t have much of anything like that. Of course, there’s Hi-Dez Holiday Market at the Holland (Project) and Reno Punk Rock Flea Market, but those are still different, with Punk Flea usually being a multi-day thing, and then Hi-Dez usually not having a concert element. I wanted to bring every aspect of an event together and make it a one-day, one-stop-shop kind of thing.”
Although the Instagram bio describes The Midnight Faire as an “alternative” market, Duane said it truly is for everybody.
“All of our events have a market, and there’s food; there’s music; there are drinks; there are activities, tarot reading, stuff like that,” she said. “It’s really a space for everyone, which was my biggest goal, because I feel like even within the alternative subculture, different groups get separated, like the emos, the punks, the skaters. I thought it would be cool to bring us all together and have all of our cool interests all in one place, and it’s been a really good time.”
A few months before Duane began The Midnight Faire, Lauren Juillerat started Biggest Little Bands to give the local music scene a platform for publicity.
“When I was in a band, it felt like it was really difficult to get interviews in Reno, unless you had a certain follower count. There were other collectives outside of Reno that would be interested in interviewing bands, but you had to have so much engagement on social media,” Juillerat said. “In our band, we just wished that there were other outlets or other ways we could tell our story and talk about our songs and our music. I wanted to start (Biggest Little Bands) to be that place where anybody could reach out and be like, ‘Hey, I would love to talk about my story, my music,’ and then people could have that done. People could read about other bands or connect with other bands, or start bands with other members. It’s been really great. It started off as just me running it, and then over time, I started taking on staff, and now we have about 19 of us, total, who do photographs, video interviews, event coordinating, a website manager—things like that.”
This is the first time The Midnight Faire and Biggest Little Bands are collaborating, but Duane and Juillerat’s friendship dates back to high school.
“We went to Academy of Arts, Careers and Technology our sophomore year, and we’ve been friends ever since,” Duane said. “We kept contact throughout all these years, and I’ve just watched her be in her band and be a journalist and get things published. It’s been so cool to watch her grow and do that. I joined Biggest Little Bands in August as an event coordinator and photographer, and then quickly, we realized that we work really well together, and it’s easy for us to anticipate each other’s needs, so I became her assistant. Since we work so well together, and we both wanted to put on an event early this year anyway, we figured, ‘Let’s partner and bring both of our groups together, and see what happens.’”
Juillerat has long been a fan of The Midnight Faire, and said a lot of people don’t understand how great the events are.
“I’ve had some friends tell me they think it’s only a music event, or they think it’s only food, but then you get there, and you see there are vendors; there’s food; there’s great music, and you meet a lot of really awesome people there,” Juillerat said. “… I’ve met a lot of cool people, and really cool bands there, and everyone’s always really friendly.”
Added Duane: “Most people come for one of the things, and then they end up staying and having a great time with everything that’s going on. We’ve had people come with their infants and strollers. It’s really cool that, quite literally, everybody can come and have a good time together.”
Both The Midnight Faire and Biggest Little Bands exist, in part, to fill a void in Reno—a lack of all-ages arts opportunities.
“After COVID, there were a lot less things going on, and it’s always been a very 21-plus environment,” Duane said. “A lot of the venues are for older people, or a lot of the shows are with older bands, so I think it’s really cool that we’re able to bring in the younger audience and show them that they can go out, and they can have fun and party in a safe way. … I remember being a teenager here, and there was not much to do—but going to the shows at the Holland Project changed my life. There is community in this little city, and there is a lot to do if you just look for it.”
Juillerat said she’s proud of how Biggest Little Bands has boosted the local music scene.
“I remember being a teenager here, and there was not much to do—but going to the shows at the Holland Project changed my life. There is community in this little city, and there is a lot to do if you just look for it.”
Kayla Duane
“I’ve heard feedback that it’s been helpful for people who want to start a band, to reach out to other people in the scene … or it’s been helpful to have a place to discover new genres of music or new bands,” she said. “On our website, we have a list of every band we’ve been able to find, and we link their music, and people said that’s helpful for booking shows. Touring bands … can find what bands would match their genre. They’ve found it as a helpful resource. Biggest Little Bands is all community-run, essentially, and it’s been a good hub for everybody to contribute and benefit from it.”
For the Love of Reno will be hosted at Club Underground.
“Both of our past events have been at Holland Project, which is a community-run, all-ages space, but this event is at Club Underground—which sounds like it would be a club, but it’s actually just a big, huge, all-ages venue space,” Duane said. “They do have bars, and they do have big stages, but it is open to everyone.”
For the Love of Reno’s lineup features a variety of performers, meant to showcase sounds across the scene. Serendipity, Honey Plant, deWolfe, Tommy V, No One Good, AFTRPRTY, Young Arima, Charity Kiss and Pussy Velour are all set to perform.
“Since it’s ‘For the Love of Reno,’ we wanted to really encapsulate all of our love of Reno and all of the different subcultures that entails,” Duane said. “We have some indie, some rock, some rap, some metal—there’s a really good variety of music. We set up the set list so it would all flow nicely throughout the day.”
The event will also feature DJ sets from Puppy Trickz and Zaddy B (at the 21+ afterparty).
“There are a lot of DJs in Reno, but I feel like it’s hard for DJs to get certain gigs unless it’s at a bar, and even then, most bars use the same ones,” Juillerat said. “Kayla’s really good, and at all The Midnight Faire events, she picks amazing DJs who have great music and are super-nice, down-to-earth people. It’s good exposure for people in the band scene to meet some DJs and get into that side of music as well.”
In addition to the market and music, For the Love of Reno will also host a free public closet.
“People can drop off old clothes that they don’t wear anymore, and then shop other people’s clothes, for free,” Duane said. “Whatever we don’t get rid of at the event, we’ll donate to Our Place, the domestic-violence shelter. … We’ll have two drop-off points, one at Dress 2 Kill and one at Terror, so you don’t have to lug them to the event.”
For the Love of Reno will take place at 5 p.m., Friday, Feb. 13, at Club Underground, at 555 E. Fourth St., in Reno. The event is all-ages, and tickets start at $17.50. The 21+ after party will start at midnight, and tickets are $13.91. Visit ticketweb for tickets; visit instagram.com/themidnightfaire to learn more.