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Milk + Cookies

Atlanta-founded live music festival, now running through a South African Pty Ltd, with annual Cape Town and Johannesburg editions since 2025.

Based in
South Africa
Founded
2025 (South African editions); US parent festival brand dates to earlier Atlanta events

Milk + Cookies is a live music festival that has run an annual edition in Cape Town and Johannesburg every January since 2025, now through its South African registered operating entity, Milk and Cookies Festival (Pty) Ltd. The brand’s founding team, including co-founders Gregory K. Burton Jr. and Kevin Reese, is based in Atlanta, Georgia, where the festival also runs a US edition.

The South African run has grown quickly: the 2025 debut drew about 20,000 attendees behind a Kaytranada headline set, and the 2026 edition drew more than 30,000 across the two cities behind Gunna, with organisers citing support for over 3,500 local jobs in production, vendor, venue and hospitality work. A third edition is booked for Cape Town on 29 January and Johannesburg on 31 January 2027.

Milk + Cookies books across genres rather than around one, pairing music with food, fashion, art and design programming. Co-founder Kevin Reese has described the South African run as more than a touring stop: “Three years in, this isn’t a visit.”

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