Tim’s Picks: Time for the Taste
Digging into a two-weekend run, including the Taste of Tippecanoe Saturday and the Indiana Fiddlers’ Gathering the following weekend.
Getting you through the next couple of big weekends, it’s …
By Tim Brouk / For Based in Lafayette
Chauncie, Cicada and Bats Outta Hell, 7:30 p.m. Friday, June 19, North End Pub, 2100 Elmwood Ave., Lafayette — One of Purdue University’s longest standing bands is plying its trade on the east side of the Wabash River this summer. After rocking The Spot Tavern in May, Chauncie will present its funky pop rock stylings at North End Pub for the first time. While 60% of the band has already graduated from Purdue, the seniors left ensure more local gigs for this standout Boilermaker band. Chauncie will join fellow West Lafayette rockers Bats Outta Hell and youthful Lafayette jam band Cicada. $10.
Taste of Tippecanoe, 5-11 p.m. Saturday, June 20, downtown Lafayette — Like the perfect menu, the Taste of Tippecanoe has something for everyone both in terms of eats and beats. The 2026 edition of one of downtown Lafayette’s biggest summer festivals will showcase 33 local and area restaurants, food trucks, breweries and wineries.
The hungry ones will have meats (City Barbecue, Kokomo Meat Market), sweets (Beverly Ann’s Cookie Truck, Gibson’s Shaved Ice, Glover’s Ice Cream, Kona Ice, Something Sweet), Italian (Paretta’s), Mexican (Dos Amigos, Gaba’s Tacos, Gordo’s Truck, Nom Nom Tacos), Indian (Taste of India), Korean (Bibibop, Flaming Kuma), soul food (Honey’s), pizza (Arni’s, HotBox, Wildfire 348), Indiana favorites (Digby’s Pub and Patio, Jake’s) and much more to choose from. Thirsty ones will have People’s Brewing Company, Capo Wine Bar, Latea, The Old School Tap, Thieme & Wagner Brewery, Wildcat Creek Winery and Travelin’ Tom’s Coffee Truck. With all that drinking and eating, everyone better boogie those calories off to the sounds of pop-country (Levi Riggs), blues-rock (Jason Wells Band), acoustic guitar virtuosity (Michael Kelsey Band), R&B (Tonio Darnell), big band (Indianapolis’ Hickey Shanafelt 9ollective), dance music (DJs Los and MMJ), and more. With this buffet for the senses, the most important aspect of the Taste is that proceeds go to The Arts Federation and the organization’s mission to provide financial support for artists and arts organizations in 14 surrounding counties as well as arts programming and classes at the downtown visual and performing arts venue.
Depot Stage
5 p.m. — Dream Slice
6:30 p.m. — Hickey Shanafelt 9ollective
8 p.m. — Levi Riggs
9:30 p.m. — Michael Kelsey Band
Market Stage
5:15 p.m. — Victor Lee & the Fluffy Biscuits
6:45 p.m. — Tonio Darnell
8:15 p.m. — Jason Wells Band
9:45 p.m. — Jennie DeVoe
Digby’s Pub & Patio
5 p.m. — Joe Deckard
6 p.m. — Kyle Bellinger
7 p.m. — Briton Weise
Taste After Dark Stage
8 p.m. — DJs Los and MMJ
Indiana Fiddlers’ Gathering, June 26-28, Tippecanoe Battlefield, Battle Ground — Now under the fine direction of Mom&Pop Productions, the 2026 Indiana Fiddlers’ Gathering is bringing the star power this summer. Headlining the weekend long festival is Grammy Award winner Michael Cleveland, a blind fiddler whose fireworks on the fingerboard would have sent him viral a zillion times over if YouTube and social media existed back in the 1990s when he was first discovered as a 13-year-old prodigy who electrified on an episode of “Grand Ole Opry.” Check out this amazing video of a young Cleveland jamming backstage with Doc Watson, the legendary bluegrass guitarist and vocalist. This is a huge get for the Gathering and Greater Lafayette in general. Also joining in on the fiddlin’ fun will be Michigan hot jazz ensemble Djangophonique, Tennessee old-time dance band Stones River Reelers, returning Eastern European gypsy punk band Fugu Dugu, and loads of local pickers and fiddlers populating open stages and workshops throughout. Daily tickets and weekend passes.
June 26
7 p.m. — Bahler’s Golden Age
8 p.m. — Djangophonique
9 p.m. — Stones River Reelers
10 p.m. — Steam Machine
June 27
(Free events)
9 a.m. — Workshops
10 a.m. — Children’s concert with Mark Lyons
10:50 a.m. — Children’s concert with Bobcat Opossum
Noon — Open stage
(Ticketed)
2 p.m. — Zacbé Pichardo and Irekani Ferreyra
3 p.m. — Stones River Reelers
4 p.m. — Travelers Dream
5 p.m. — Bobcat Opossum
6 p.m. — Square dance (free)
7 p.m. — Steam Machine
8 p.m. — Djangophonique
9 p.m. — Ashlee Watkins & Andrew Small
10 p.m. — Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper
June 28
(Donations only)
10 a.m. — Workshops
Noon — Open stage
1 p.m. — Mark Stoffel’s Kitchen Table Crew
2 p.m. — Ashlee Watkins and Andrew Small
3 p.m. — Fugu Dugu
4 p.m. — Sendoff jam / Farewell / Closing bell
Pride Is a Protest drag show, 9 p.m. June 26, The Spot Tavern, 409 S. Fourth St., Lafayette — It’s pretty punk rock to be a drag performer these days with the current political regimes in Indianapolis and Washington, D.C., which is why an upcoming drag event will not only entertain but unite. “Pride Is a Protest” will feature drag queens and kings performing their routines with the mindfulness of protest being at the heart of Pride. Some of the early activists of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement were drag performers and this event will pay tribute. But it will also look ahead to overcoming homophobic policies and agendas of today. Indianapolis beatmaker DJ Flyyweight will supply the beats with Petra Sematary, Sister Salacious, Gussy and Ultraviolet slated to perform. $10.
The Band Loula, 7:30 p.m. June 27, Long Center for the Performing Arts, 111 N. Sixth St., Lafayette — With Indiana Fiddlers’ Gathering picking in Battle Ground, downtown Lafayette will provide a bluegrass experience too. Georgia duo The Band Loula will make its local debut on the historic Long Center stage. Friends not lovers Logan Simmons and Malachi Mills perform a stripped-down sound that showcases the musicians’ tight vocal harmonies. The band made its “Grand Ole Opry” debut a year ago after successful opening slots for the likes of Dierks Bentley, Zach Top, Elle King, Ashley McBryde and Brothers Osborne. One Osborne, John, co-produced The Band Loula’s first EP, “Sweet Southern Summer,” along with Greg Biek (Little Big Town). $31-$53. Tickets.
BONUS CUTS …
Greater Lafayette’s Juneteenth 2026, 1-5 p.m. Saturday, June 20, Lafayette’s Columbian Park. The Hanna Center hosts the annual celebration of Juneteenth, marking the day, on June 19, 1865, when word of the Emancipation Proclamation was delivered to Galveston, Texas. President Abraham Lincoln had proclaimed the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States as of Jan. 1, 1863, more than two years earlier. Texas was the last Confederate state to have the proclamation announced. Saturday’s event, dubbed “Sounds of Freedom,” will feature music, storytelling, free food, family activities, a Double Dutch demonstration and a resource fair. Free. For more details, go to juneteenthgl.com.
Summer Movie Night Series: “Back to the Future,” 9 p.m. Friday, June 19, Tippecanoe County Amphitheater, 4449 Indiana 43 North, West Lafayette. Admission to the 1985 flick is free, with donations of personal care and hygiene products, clothing, household essentials, child care items (diapers, wipe, school supplies) or non-perishable food items for local nonprofit agencies. Gates open at 8 p.m., with food trucks and free popcorn on hand. For more details, go to Summer Movie Night Series on Facebook.
Tim Brouk is a longtime arts and entertainment reporter. He writes here (almost) weekly, tracking things to do for Based in Lafayette.
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