Country Calling 2026 Back To Two-Day Format

OCEAN CITY, Md. – Dates for Ocean City’s Country Calling music festival were announced, but the event will return as a two-day festival instead of three.

The popular festival is set to return to Ocean City on Oct. 2-3, 2026. For Ocean City businesses, one fewer day could mean fewer customers than the year before. Surfin’ Betty’s Burger Bar front-of-house worker Bailey Pusey said the festival’s traffic helped boost business.

“We get a lot of flow of people,” she said. “Especially foot traffic on the sidewalk from people walking and Ubering and waiting around. It gets busy in the morning before the bigger acts go on.”

The announcement follows the town’s decision in November that the Boardwalk Rock festival would not return in 2026 because of headliner cancellations. Boardwalk Rock took place for the first time in May 2025. Bayside Skillet manager Coretez Smith said May is already a busy month, so the festival did not have as large of an impact as Country Calling.

“That one didn’t affect us too much in May, but in September, when the other ones are happening, it’s definitely a huge difference,” Smith said.

Smith added that while the festival’s return to a two-day format is not ideal for businesses, some may feel the impact more than others.

“We have a ton of customers,” Smith said. “We have a huge following, so for us it may not hurt as much, but for other businesses in the community, it may impact them much more.”

Headliners for the event have not yet been announced.

For more information about Country Calling, be sure to visit countrycallingfestival.com.