For promoter Vince S., the blueprint for Locals Only Festival came from the hardcore shows he went to growing up.
“I remember going to shows, hanging out with the homies, smoking in the back between sets and just being completely immersed in that whole environment,” he says.
Locals Only, the 21+ festival Vince founded, is his attempt to rebuild that environment. Its fourth edition takes place Saturday, Nov. 7, at Walter WhereHouse, an art-focused event space near downtown Phoenix. The venue is run by Walter Productions, the Phoenix collective known for its fleet of oversized art cars. Over a full day of programming, the festival brings punk, hardcore, hip-hop, skating, graffiti, tattoos, and cannabis culture together.
How Locals Only Started
Vince grew up playing music, skating, smoking, and going to hardcore shows, and he was a regular at Warped Tour. Later, when he started going to cannabis events, he noticed they were becoming more and more alike, and he wanted to build something that felt different. The scenes he came up in had always crossed over. He wanted an event that reflected that instead of splitting each one off into its own show.
He started small, on a DIY scale. The first Locals Only took place on New Year’s Eve 2024 at Steel Cactus Brewing in Gilbert. A 4/20 edition followed in 2025 at Endgame in Mesa, where live music shared the bill with wrestling. That October, Locals Only went horror-themed with Bloodfest, a Halloween edition at Club Ten31 in Apache Junction.
The festival has grown considerably since those early shows. Vince says the concept has not changed: showcase the subcultures he grew up around and give underground artists a platform.
“Even though this fourth edition is fucking massive compared to where we started, I don’t want it to lose that part of itself,” he says.
This Year’s Lineup
Vince says Arizona artists remain the priority. This year’s local acts include Sickways, Bl@ne, So Happy, Lilmaziijugg, Sick in the Head, Spittherat, and Skinticket, representing different corners of the state’s music scene. Some go back to the beginning. Spittherat, Lilmaziijugg, and So Happy played the first Locals Only in 2024, and Spittherat returned for Bloodfest in 2025. DirtyButt and RejectedReyna, who Vince says bring their own sound and energy to the bill, are also performing.
NASCAR Aloe and Jasiah are headlining. Both artists fold punk and hardcore influences into rap, and the two toured together this summer on the Capital Punishment Tour. According to Vince, both had built their own audiences and wanted to be part of Locals Only after seeing what the festival was doing.
A secret headliner will close the night, with an announcement scheduled for Oct. 15.
Beyond The Lineup
The lineup is only part of what Vince is building. Participating cannabis brands include Smoken Promises, 22Red, Cookies, Session, Grow Sciences, Presidential, Project Packs, Hot Rod, and Glorious Extracts, among others. Vince says the brands will be on site all day with samples and giveaways for attendees. The festival will also have food, on-site tattooing, graffiti demonstrations, brand activations, and a skate demo from Smoken Promises.
“You can watch a hardcore band, catch a skate demo, get tattooed, check out some art, hit the vendors, smoke with your friends and then end up in the middle of a completely different crowd for the next set,” Vince says.
Locals Only has been consumption-friendly since the beginning. According to Vince, attendees can consume cannabis on site as long as they bring their own or get it through samples from participating vendors. No cannabis will be sold at the event. Vince calls that format a big part of the experience, but he does not want the festival to feel like “a cannabis event that happens to have music.” For him, cannabis is part of the environment, as it was in the back of those hardcore shows, and the music and the people come first.
Vince’s advice for first-timers is to come with an open mind.
“Come pop out, party, see some big artists, see some new artists you may have never heard, meet people you may not have thought you had much in common with,” he says.
Locals Only Festival starts at 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 7, at Walter WhereHouse, 702 N. 21st Ave., in Phoenix. The event is 21+, and tickets are available online.
Images courtesy of Locals Only.
Content Disclaimer: High Times is a media partner of Locals Only Festival. Event details, lineup information, participating brands, and programming information were provided by the event producers.
