On Sunday, students gathered across campus for Day N Mayfield, a day-long annual music festival celebrating Stanford’s student artists, musicians and creative community. Hosted by Arbor Live, the event transformed Mars Lawn, Mayfield Avenue and Levin Field into a festival space filled with live performances, student-made art, community clothing vendors and food trucks.
The festival unfolded in two parts: an afternoon concert series at the Mayfield Stage on Mars Lawn and an evening lineup at the Levin Stage on Levin Field. The Mayfield Stage featured performances from student bands Monarch, Ovulation Station, Sexy Craig, Mr. Joy, Girlband and Marmalade. Student attendees lounged on blankets and gathered near the stage while bands performed original songs and covers spanning indie rock, alternative and experimental genres. By the evening, the festival shifted to Levin Field, where Denim in Distress, The Move, Hot Pocket Nepo Baby, Cien Mil, Sunday School, Bug Park and Six of Spades performed for packed audiences.
Between sets on the Levin Stage, organizers projected a video compilation highlighting decades of student involvement in music, art and activism at Stanford, tracing creative culture on campus from the 1970s to the present day. The archival footage connected the festival to a longer history of student expression and rebellion, reinforcing the event’s emphasis on creativity and community.
For organizers behind the scenes, the event required extensive planning and technical coordination.
“I like setting up the [equalizers] because I get to make sure it sounds good for everyone attending and just [ensure] we let the artists perform the best they can,” said Damian Luciano Muschamp ’29, an Arbor Live crew member and audio mixer for the festival.
Muschamp’s work reflected the collaborative effort behind Day N Mayfield. Student organizers managed everything from sound engineering and stage transitions to lighting, scheduling and crowd coordination, allowing performances to continue seamlessly throughout the day.
Alongside the music, one of the festival’s biggest attractions was its handmade merchandise giveaway. Organizers distributed 200 free shirts and tote bags, all of which were hand-screen-printed by students at the McMurtry Art Building’s art studio. Attendees could also bring their own plain cotton shirts to create custom designs at a DIY printing station.
“We sold out of merch really quickly,” said Leo Roth ’29, who was on the festival’s creative team for merchandise. “It was super popular. All hand-made, so very limited edition.”
The DIY aesthetic extended throughout the festival grounds. Wooden signs directed attendees between stations, while colorful posters and student-designed fliers highlighted student-run shops and handmade goods. The emphasis on student craftsmanship mirrored the broader spirit of the festival: an event created almost entirely by students for students.
The festival also featured “Shakedown Street” along Mayfield Avenue, where more than 20 vendors sold vintage clothing, handmade jewelry and art. The space included balloon artists, tarot readings, food trucks serving tacos and Vietnamese cuisine, DIY merch-printing stations and an On Call Café pop-up.
One of the most popular community initiatives at the festival was Big Swap at Stanford, a student organization focused on sustainability and reuse. Big Swap hosted a free thrift-style exchange where students could browse donated clothing items.
“It’s just very cool to be out here amidst all the cool student bands and see the campus community … come to life,” said Edith Chamberlain ’27, one of the organizers of Big Swap. “We’re getting a lot of new people who have never even heard of Big Swap before, which is great.”
Chamberlain said Big Swap hopes events like Day N Mayfield help students think differently about waste and sustainability on campus. “We’re continuing to spread the word and [increase] that circularity of student items on campus,” she said. “[Big Swap is] just a really great way to divert items from the landfill that would have otherwise been tossed. And people are always so excited to learn that it’s basically like a free thrift store.”
With the sun setting over Levin Field, students crowded even closer to the stage as Big Swap and “Shakedown Street” wrapped up, dancing between performances and singing along with the bands. The evening’s final set by Six of Spades — a band of six seniors who joined together their freshman year, now performing their final stage before graduation — transformed the field into a packed concert venue, with lights flashing across the crowd as music carried late into the night.
