The festival is organized by Sam Summers, co-owner of a local music venue and booker for a concert series.
Water Works Park, located along the
Raccoon River four miles southwest of
Downtown Des Moines, was set to host for the first year. Its inaugural edition, however, was moved to
St. Charles, twenty miles to the south, due to flooding concerns at the park. It drew a crowd of 14,000 over the two days. For 2016, the festival announced plans to return to St. Charles. The festival expanded to three days in 2019. Hinterland was canceled in 2020 due to
COVID-19 concerns. The 2022 festival added a fourth day before scaling back to three days in 2023 until 2026 where they returned to a four day schedule. ==Lineups==