Vans Warped Tour is the largest and longest running touring music festival in the United States. Held in non-traditional venues such as fair grounds, parking lots and fields, and sponsored by shoe manufacturer Vans since the tour’s inception in 1995, it has been known as “Vans Warped Tour” since 1996. This panel will discusses the interplay of brand communities and philanthropy bordering on social entrepreneurship as underpinnings of the philosophy of Warped’s founder, Kevin Lyman. It identifies those factors as the primary reasons for the longevity and other successes of Warped, both as a music festival and an entrepreneurial venture.