Startup Crawl Returns to the Fayetteville Square This Friday with 13 Stops, More Than 70 Startups and Live Music

Full route, brewery pairings, exhibiting sectors, food trucks and prizes released for the eighth annual Crawl, themed “Making Waves”

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark., September 23, 2026: The eighth annual Startup Crawl returns to the Downtown Fayetteville Square this Friday, September 25, from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m., as Startup Junkie turns the Square, One East Center and the Fayetteville Town Center courtyard into a walkable, beach-themed showcase of local startups, craft beer, food trucks and live music. General admission is free with registration.

Since 2017, Startup Crawl has connected more than 10,000 community members with the founders and ideas driving the region’s innovation economy. Startup Crawl 2026: Making Waves features 13 official stops, each pairing a downtown business with a local brewery, plus a Beer Garden on East Avenue, three acts on the Mountain Street Main Stage, live jazz inside One East Center, six food trucks, and more than 70 startups, small businesses and founder-support organizations exhibiting in and around One East Center and the first-ever Chamber Alley in the Fayetteville Town Center courtyard.

How the Crawl Works

• Check in and gear up. Check-in opens at 5:00 p.m. outside One East Center (the Pryor Center, 1 East Center Street). Attendees show their Eventbrite ticket or free registration and pick up a Treasure Map; Beer Pass holders also receive a custom 2026 Silipint souvenir cup, wristband and tote bag of swag.
• Stamp your way to prizes. Four stops are inside One East Center and nine are a short walk around the Square. Seven stamps earns a free 2026 Crawl t-shirt (first 500 finishers, while supplies last), and a full map of 13 stamps enters the attendee to win $1,500 toward a custom vacation curated by Fisher & Stout Travel, the Fayetteville-based travel advisory. Maps are turned in on the second floor of One East Center. The map is free with every check-in, so finishing it never depends on buying anything.

This Year’s Stops + Breweries

1. Startup Junkie + Bike Rack Brewing Co. — One East Center, Suite 270
2. Zenwork + Core Brewing (Scarlet Letter) — One East Center, Suite 250
3. Sharp Hue + Hawk Moth Brewing — One East Center, Suite 210
4. Century Bank of the Ozarks + Southern Tail Brewing — One East Center, Suite 215
5. Acres + Social Project Brewing Co. — 26 W. Center St.
6. Big Box Karaoke + Mad Rooster Beer Co. — 115 N. Block Ave.
7. CurbPage + Rendezvous Junction Brewing Co. — 100 W. Center St.
8. Encore Bank + New Province Brewing Co. — 112 W. Center St., Suite 100
9. Bank of Fayetteville + Fayetteville Beer Works — 1 S. Block Ave.
10. Experience Fayetteville + Flyway Brewing Co. — 21 S. Block Ave.
11. Brewer Family Entrepreneurship Hub + Ozark Beer Co. — 123 W. Mountain St.
12. Chamber of Fayetteville + Stoic Brews Alternative (gluten-free) — Chamber Alley, Town Center courtyard
13. Urban Cellar Winery + Black Howler Beer Co. — 21 W. Mountain St.

Beer Garden (East Avenue, in front of One East Center): Ferm Kombucha (non-alcoholic), Core Brewing Retro and Bentonville Brewing Co.

Main Stage — Mountain Street

• 5:15 p.m. – Malibu Moon, a Northwest Arkansas indie alternative rock band with a sunny surf-rock streak, opens the night.
• 6:30 p.m. – The Irie Lions, Fayetteville’s original roots reggae band, take the middle set.
• 7:30 p.m. – Memphis Ukulele Band headlines. Founded at the iconic Sun Studio and featured on PBS’s Sun Studio Sessions and NPR’s Beale Street Caravan, the Memphis collective reworks soul, country and pop standards with an all-ukulele front line and plays the Crawl as it celebrates the 10-year anniversary of its debut album.

Inside One East Center, jazz piano and jazz guitar will provide background music throughout the evening in partnership with the Music Education Initiative, giving the exhibition floor its own soundtrack while the bands play outside.

Who’s Exhibiting

More than 40 startups fill the first floor of One East Center, with the Resource Pavilion upstairs. Through Startup Junkie’s partnership with the City of Fayetteville, this year’s Crawl also introduces the first-ever Chamber Alley in the Fayetteville Town Center courtyard, where Chamber of Fayetteville leadership and eight Chamber member businesses set up alongside the Chamber’s stop. This year’s slate spans artificial intelligence and software, deep tech and hardware, cybersecurity, fintech and real estate technology, healthcare and wellness, agriculture and livestock genetics, outdoor recreation, food and beverage, consumer products and apparel, and the creative arts, and includes companies from Fuel Accelerator, ARise, 1 Million Cups and the University of Arkansas Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

The Resource Pavilion brings together the accelerators, investors, lenders and City of Fayetteville small-business resources that help founders start, fund and grow, so anyone working on an idea of their own can leave with a next step.

Food, Merch and Tickets

Six food trucks are parked around the Square: Tasty Waves Co., BeaverTails, Pinchos, KDK’s Soul Kitchen, Taqueria El Jefe and Sabroso (food sold separately). A limited-edition 2026 Crawl tee is $20 at the merch tent while supplies last.

General admission is free with Eventbrite registration. Beer Passes, for guests 21 and older with a valid ID, include unlimited pours from every brewery on the route and in the Beer Garden, a custom Silipint souvenir cup, wristband and tote bag of swag: the Low Tide Sampler Kit (6 oz) is $20 presale and $25 on event day, and the High Tide Full Pour Pass (16 oz) is $30 presale and $35 on event day. Cups sold out last year and prior years’ cups cannot be reused. Passes will also be sold at check-in at the day-of price while supplies last.

Know Before You Go

The event is rain or shine. Street parking on the Square is limited; the Town Center Parking Deck ($4) and the Meadow Street deck (Level 2 free after 6:00 p.m.) are closest, and rideshare drop-off is at 1 East Center Street. Please drink responsibly. Visitors in town for Saturday’s Arkansas–Tulsa game can catch the Crawl the night before, ten minutes from Razorback Stadium.

All proceeds support entrepreneurship education through the Startup Junkie Foundation in Northwest Arkansas. Learn more or access Startup Junkie’s no-cost services at www.startupjunkie.org.

Special thanks to this year’s sponsors: Ox, RightFiber, ACC Capital, Bank of America, Wright, Lindsey & Jennings, Swarm Aero, Chambers Bank, Experience Fayetteville, Fisher & Stout Travel, The Law Group of NWA, Century Bank of the Ozarks, Zenwork, Teslar Software, Sage Partners, Encore Bank, Trust Tree Legal, P.C., Acre Hedge, the City of Fayetteville, Natural Threads, Go Rogue Studio and Product Connections.

To learn more, register for free general admission or purchase a Beer Pass: startupjunkie.org/startup-crawl

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About Startup Junkie: Startup Junkie is a mission-driven organization that exists to improve lives through innovation and entrepreneurship. With a goal to stimulate economic growth in the region, the organization provides a variety of services including mentorship, consulting, training, and more. Startup Junkie has an extensive network of partners and professionals dedicated to enhancing the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Northwest Arkansas. The Foundation has helped thousands of entrepreneurs through one-on-one consulting and hosts over 200 events and programs a year.

Media contact

Harrison Kitson, Director of Marketing & Outreach
harrison@startupjunkie.org | 479-250-5742

Caleb Talley, Executive Director, Startup Junkie Foundation
caleb@startupjunkie.org | 479-879-7997