Photo by Keith Perks. 

Good Things Are Happening

How James Barrett Built an alternative music festival from scratch in Scranton, PA. 

By Annie TRessler

8.17.2025 

There are several truths about Scranton, Pennsylvania, the midsize metropolis seemingly two hours away from everywhere*: 1. it’s a real place, 2. there’s no Hooters (despite The Office’s misleadings), and 3. music and culture are embedded in its DNA, and if you look closely, a renaissance is underway. Even if Scranton seems like a sleepy place or is known better to many as the setting of The Office, it’s been a quiet hotbed of alternative music for years. Think Tigers Jaw, The Menzingers, Wicca Phase Springs Eternal. We also raised a President. Now, we have an alternative arts and music festival.

In 2022, James Barrett, a presence so central to the DIY scene in Scranton that he’s the de facto mayor, tweeted, “what if I started a music festival in Scranton?”

The responses were overwhelming. 

That summer, the first Good Things Are Happening Fest lit up the Scranton Iron Furnaces, with hometown heroes Captain We’re Sinking reuniting after a five-year hiatus as the glittering headliner. Hundreds of revelers gathered to give Scranton its flowers.

This year, the festival’s fourth (September 6th, 2025), soaring and indelible pop-punk band The Menzingers are headlining.

Barrett, another scrappy kid from Scranton, is helming the scene and shepherding it into the future. We caught up to chat about the origin of the festival, why Scranton’s DIY scene—and its long history—is so special, and what it means to create the infrastructure that amplifies already-existing art scenes and the artists who just need a place to play.

*New York, Philadelphia, and State College, PA

COPY: I guess we can start at the top. Tell me a little bit about yourself.

JAMES BARRETT: I’m from Scranton. I’ve lived here my whole life. I’ve been playing music for my entire life… really just since I was in, like, elementary school. I started really actively trying to pursue it throughout high school and after high school. Never went to college, if that helps, and just decided that I wanted to try to pursue my music.

How did music come to be so core to your being?

My dad always played guitar, but it’s kind of like he kept it to himself. He played forever. He always had a couple of guitars in the house growing up, but he never played out. I’m the youngest of four. My brother started playing drums when he was really young. Both my sisters were super into all old 2000s pop-punk bands—Simple Plan, Blink-182, Sum 41, Good Charlotte.

Some of my earliest memories are of my brother playing his drum set that he got for Christmas. Between my dad playing music, my brother starting to drum, and my sisters being super into music, it was just always there.

Do you have daily practices that inform your work?

I definitely listen to music every single day. There’s never a day that I don’t listen to music. It’s weird. I’ll have phases where I’ll practice every day for a month, and then there are weeks where I don’t play. And it all depends on my mental state, I feel like. But I try to play at least for even ten minutes a day just to do something... I always try to write. I have a lot of audio files of things I’m working on.

Can you talk about some of the bands who inspired you the most? How did their sound or ethos shape your own?

This answer is so giant because it’s changed so much. But early on, Blink-182 was one of my favorite bands.

Then The Gaslight Anthem, Alkaline Trio, and I would just say The Menzingers honestly were my crucial bands when I really started taking music seriously. Especially The Menzingers, since they were from Scranton... It was kind of like a glimpse of hope that you could do something with it, even living here.

Now, definitely The National. And there’s a band called Gang of Youths from Australia. I also just listen to a bunch of pop now too, though. My taste has just changed like crazy. But there were always periods of my life where certain bands really stuck out.

  Photos by Karalyn Took.

Tell me how the festival came to be. Was it an “aha” moment or a long time coming?

It kind of just happened. It’s really crazy. For years, I was always seeing a lot of my friends’ bands get added to these sick festivals, and I was always feeling kind of left out... There was part of it that definitely came from this selfish desire, like, I just want to play a festival.

And then I was like, you know what? It would be cool to start something here in Scranton. If I can’t get something going outside of this area, I should try doing something in my hometown.

So I put it on Facebook and Twitter. The Facebook post was just me saying it would be cool to do a music festival in Scranton where the music’s the main focus and then the vendors are there to also be a huge part... And it just took off.

Twitter—I said, “Respond to this if you’d play a festival in Scranton, PA.” It literally got, like, 200 responses in hours. So I was like, holy shit, this is insane.

That was May of 2022. Somehow, we got a small team together and pulled off year one in August.

What makes Scranton and its DIY scene special?

I feel like Scranton has always had so much potential. When we were in our early teens (2010s), it was at its worst point. But I’ve heard stories about the early 2000s and 90s—the music scene was amazing. I don’t think the music scene stopped being amazing—I think venues just started dropping. There was nowhere to play.

That was part of why I started this. I’ve played in so many places, and I always meet bands. And a lot of it is just returning the favor. A band books you, and you want to book them back—but there was no place to put them.

So I was like, we’ll just set up shop at this insane historic site and have people play here... Everyone’s amazing now. Everyone’s super supportive. There are so many talented bands from this area. Esta Coda, Pucker Up!, If Kansas Had Trees, Glass Mask, University Drive, Sweetnest, Pay for Pain, the list goes on!

Let’s talk brass tacks—how do you start planning a festival from scratch?

It’s insane. Truly. I just think from the day jobs I’ve had over the last ten years, plus how often I’ve played in this area—I’ve definitely developed a reputation. I worked in a coffee shop for years and also worked at a high-end deli before that. From those two jobs, I met so many people who have stuck around to support me.

When I posted about [the festival], I had a bunch of people being like, “Hey, I could help.” Mac Hester Productions reached out, and they’re our production crew now. Everyone brought their own niche.

You just have to do it. You just have to ask. People told me year one, like, “Dude, if this fails, you’re fucked.” But I’m so glad we did it anyway. It didn’t fail. We’ve yet to fail.

How has the fest changed since 2022?

It’s still at the Scranton Iron Furnaces, it’s a 100-plus-year-old venue. But the production has changed drastically. We went from a little truck stage you’d use at an Italian festival to an actual stage with a screen, lights, and really good sound.

And our branding has gotten better—thanks to Madison Van Houten. She does all our graphic design, all the flyers, all the merch. I told her my idea, which was based on this corny WNEP news segment, Good Things Are Happening, and she brought it to a whole new level. We had 400 people at the first festival, last year we had 700, and this year we’re aiming for over 1000.

Community is so central to DIY—what’s the response been like?

98% of it has been amazing. Everyone I know thinks it’s a great thing. I try to be as diverse and inclusive as possible with the bands I book. The day of, people come up to me and say, “This is the best day of my summer.” That stuff sticks with me.

It’s not just about me and my band anymore. It’s beyond me. Everyone can be a part of it in some capacity.

How can people get to Scranton?

The best way from New York is to take a MARTZ bus—it takes you straight to Scranton. There are two hotels within five minutes of the venue, the Radisson and the Hilton. You can also drive, or hitchhike, or whatever you choose. We’re still working on a train…for the past half century or so.
 
We allow re-entry, we give out free water, and we just do what we can to make it super fun and inclusive and safe for everyone.

Check out Good Things Are Happening Fest online and on Instagram.
Listen to James Barrett on Spotify.