Dentonpalooza Continues To Find the City's Quirkiest Characters

“We’ll just keep going, I suppose, until we have to bring out the old hits,” Joey Liechty says as he gears up for a third Dentonpalooza — the joke-turned-variety show that spotlights the unique characters of this quirky little college town. “I mean, we're going on three years now. Come on. I'm just pulling it out of somewhere.”

But somehow, Liechty, a DJ who goes by Yeahdef, and his team of volunteers continue to throw together one of the town’s new favorite events that celebrates all things Denton — and with no repeated acts — almost effortlessly.

Dentonpalooza 3, set for Oct. 28 at Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios, will include plenty of Denton-centric entertainment. Guests and attendees are strongly encouraged to dress in costume and participate in a contest that boasts a prize of $666.

“We want everyone to dress up. If you don't dress up, you're lame,” Liechty says, only half-joking. “Dress up in a costume and compete. Because I want part of the show to be looking around at all the crazy costumes people are wearing.”

Musical acts include headliner Sarah Jaffe, Shaolin Death Squad, Smothered, Blüberry Tuesday and more. Vendors include specialty cookie maker and decorator Mandy Metts, as well as Barnhart’s Barbershop. And in true Dentonpalooza style, a variety of unique guests will take the stage, including Secret Chef star and culinary director of Ten: One Artisan Cheese Anthony Langston, for a segment called “Do You Know Your Cheese?” There will also be a protesting masterclass with “Fred Flintstone,” known by locals as the “leftist, older gentleman Square protestor,” according to the event’s poster.

There will also be sidewalk chalk for attendees to contribute to a communal art piece in front of the venue’s outdoor stage, and the evening will be dotted with blasts of old local festival shirts out of a cannon in what is dubbed “The Ghosts of Festivals Past.” This idea came to Liechty when he realized there was no real budget or designer available for merch this year. “Missed out on an old festival T-shirt? Well, here's one. Watch out. It's coming at you quick,” he says.

Dentonpalooza Inc. is an officially recognized nonprofit organization that has benefited the Denton Music and Arts Collaborative, an organization that has provided financial assistance to local musicians and artists for medical insurance for the past two years.

“People need money right now,” Liechty says. “[We have] to help these people that are living right now, today, [and] get them some money. So that's what we're trying to do.” This year the event will also benefit Leukemia Texas. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased online.

As far as the “rained-out drone show” listed on the event’s poster, which is in reference to the highly anticipated Fourth of July drone show on the downtown square that got rained out earlier this year, Liechty says: “It's been two months almost without [much] rain. And I think if the city would just announce another drone show, we can solve this problem and get some more rainfall.”

And Liechty hints that attendees will have to wait to see whether there will be a drone show of any kind at Dentonpalooza.

As for why Denton has continued to remain unique enough to crank out another whimsical iteration of a festival in its honor, Leighty says: “We're kind of this little orbiting satellite [around North Texas]. And because of that, some space dust kind of gets thrown up toward us.”

And although he jokes that one year he’ll probably have to resort to a Dentonpalooza full of “greatest hits” from years past, he reckons that won't happen any time soon.