NEARfest

The North East Art Rock Festival, or NEARfest for short, was a multi-day event celebrating the resurgence of progressive and eclectic music in the United States and around the world. The event was held annually in early summer in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, approximately one hour north of Philadelphia and less than two hours west of New York City. The festival was founded in the spring of 1998 by Robert LaDuca and Chad Hutchinson, with the first event occurring in 1999. NEARfest quickly grew to become "the most prestigious progressive music festival in the world."

On October 17, 2011, founders Hutchinson and LaDuca, and production manager Kevin Feeley announced that the final edition of the festival, entitled NEARfest Apocalypse, would take place on the weekend of June 22, 23, and 24, 2012 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The lineup for NEARfest Apocalypse was announced live on the long-running Gagliarchives Radio Program on Saturday, October 29, 2011. On May 24, 2012, it was announced that Eloy had to cancel due to medical issues. On May 29, 2012, it was revealed that U.K. would take their place as the Sunday night headliner.

The May 2008 issue of SPIN Magazine listed NEARfest as one of the top 72 festivals in the United States.

NEARfest was operated as a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. The name "NEARfest" is a registered trademark held by co-founder Chad Hutchinson.

NEARfest was held in Baker Hall, at the Zoellner Arts Center which is located on the campus of Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (2000–2001, 2004–2012). Baker Hall has a capacity of 1,002 seats in acoustically superior conditions. However, in its inaugural year, NEARfest was held in Foy Hall at Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania which has a capacity of 428 seats. In 2002 and 2003, NEARfest was held in Trenton, New Jersey at the Patriots Theater in the Trenton War Memorial, which has a capacity of 1,850 seats. All NEARfests were complete sellouts, outside of the 2011 cancellation.

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