Desert Hearts Returns With Intimate Microfest After Pausing Flagship Festival

After pressing pause on its flagship festival for 2026, Desert Hearts is making a smaller-scale return this fall.

The dance music collective has announced Microfest, a new five-day gathering set for the beginning of October at Deloro Valley in Northern California. This comeback is designed to encapsulate the intimate ambience that helped launch Desert Hearts more than a decade ago, and it’s meant to bring fans back to the community-focused dancefloors that first defined the brand.

This announcement comes after the pause of Desert Hearts Festival 2026, the news of which was shared in an Instagram post this past November. The crew’s statement read that “After 13 years of magic, love, and dancing under the stars, we’ve made the tough call to pause Desert Hearts Festival in 2026. This isn’t goodbye – but it’s time to reset, refocus, and rebuild so the heartbeat of DH can keep going strong for years to come.”

With today’s news, Desert Hearts has kept their promise to come back better than ever, with the Microfest lineup featuring house and techno veterans alongside longtime Desert Hearts favorites. DJ Minx, Stacey Pullen, Danny Daze, Doc Martin, Justin Martin, DJ Holographic, Kevin Knapp, Shaded (Live), Toy Tonics (Barbara Boeing & Cody Currie) and Life On Planets are among the artists scheduled to perform, with Desert Hearts founders Mikey Lion, Lee Reynolds, Marbs and Porky also taking the stage throughout the weekend.

Additional performances will come from B Rose, Brunch Life, Caleb Jackson, Groovewell, Issac Carter, Jake Mora, Justin Campbell, Maitreya, Rob Grega, Sprout, Stacy Christine and Techno Tupac. See the complete lineup below.

The lineup reveal also arrives alongside new music from the collective’s founders. Mikey Lion and Marbs have released “A Place For Us” under their newly unified Desert Hearts artist project, with the song reflecting the sense of connection and belonging that has long been central to the Desert Hearts community.

Microfest takes place Oct. 1-5 in Deloro Valley, Calif. Tickets are available now.