SummerGrass, San Diego (Vista), California 8/16-8/18 (THIS WEEK!)

Anyone from here heading to SummerGrass this week?

We'll be there! :mandosmiley:

I'll be there likely Friday afternoon / early evening. I have to leave early Sunday morning for a gig in OB. Hope to see you there and jam a little Don!!

Bruno

Great, I'll look for you Bruno, we'll be in Electric.

We'll be popping down Friday and Saturday with some mandolins in tow.

Steve

Every time I see Dan Sankey he raves about your mandolin Steve. He let me play if for a bit and if I was looking for a new mando, I'd be looking a little closer :)

Looking forward to seeing everyone there.

I'll be wondering around for a little while tomorrow afternoon/evening. Hope to run into some fellow cafe members! :mandosmiley:

We're there now, arrived around noon Thursday, great jamming last night,. Lots of campers already present. From the jamming I predict it's going to be a great festival.

We were there. Fun time & great to meet Steve Sorensen and get my hands on a couple of his A models. WOW!

We just got back home a couple of hours ago. We hated leaving. SummerGrass has been one of our favorite festivals over the last 20 years and this year's festival was even more of a treat because the weather was so good...

Nice and cool (>60F) evenings and overnight, and through most of the morning until the marine layer disappeared, then warming (<85F) in the afternoon until about 5 or 6pm when the marine layer forms and cools again. Very mild winds, absolutely beautiful sunsets. Even the mosquitoes were reduced because of the cool evenings.

The bands we watched were excellent, but my wife and I do festivals mostly for jamming, and that was wonderful! All of our main band was there, just jamming and having fun. Others, friends and new folks, joined in and we were going until 1 or 2am most nights. What a great time!!! I played DB and banjo just about equal time for the jamming and played mandolin in the mornings just for a little quiet reflection.

Our next event is an Alaska bluegrass cruise in a couple of weeks. More jamming!!!

Worth mentioning, SummerGrass did happen this year after skipping last year. We just got back from it on Monday. From a performance and jam aspect it was wonderful and we had a great time. All of the activities that we took part in were done outside, so there was that degree of safety.

However, from a health standpoint there were some serious bumps in the road...

At least three out-of-state bands had to cancel due to band members being sick with Covid19. My band was honored to be asked to sub for one of them on stage, which we happily did on Saturday morning.

Another band, one that was historically foundational to the festival, lost one of their three members just before the festival, not due to Covid19, but still very sad; they played extremely well, but we were all pretty broken up about it.

Also, the husband and wife promoter team for the festival had to self-quarantine in their RV due to Covid19, once well they'll still have to drive back to Tennessee.

And lastly, as we left for the festival we found out that the husband and wife leaders of one of the out-sick bands were both in serious condition with Covid19 in their Texas hospital; when we returned home we found out the wife had passed away, and the husband was doing very poorly.

Most if not all of the sick people we became aware of were from out of state. We're just hoping that this year's SummerGrass does not become known as a spreader-event.

I ran in to the promoter while on site - she was not self-quarantining from what I saw. I saw her two times - once on the main stage grounds under the parachute talking with a group of people and once walking around the crowd by the food vendor in a small crowd. I didn't see her husband at all. Both times I saw her she was wearing her mask on her chin and talking with friends in close proximity to a lot of folks. I heard (though not confirmed) that her and her husband also got one of their band members sick though he didn't show up at the festival. I was really disappointed in her honestly. Even if you just had the flu, going to a festival and interacting with people while you're contagious is not okay. If you have to be, at least take some precautions.

We only saw her outside. Outside is dramatically safer than inside a confined room or building. My wife has been in contact with her (and via her, her husband) online, and happily they're both on the upswing and they have been driving their RV to their home in the SE USA. They may actually be home by now. We know them personally, they are kind, caring people, and of course they wouldn't intentionally hurt anyone...

These are also smart, educated people, but there exists a belief gap among all ages and all regions that we're really talking about here, one that comes very close to personal differences in religion or politics. And, there is an over-abundance of information flowing everywhere about this, so really nothing good is served by making judgements or discussing the philosophies involved here online.

On the good side of things, related to the band related couple that were in serious condition in the hospital and the wife had passed away, the husband's condition is improving and there is now hope he may survive. Clearly our best hopes and thoughts are also with him, his family, and with anyone dealing with illness.

These are tough times that no one living has consciously dealt with before and there are lots of unknowns. Just about everyone is looking forward to normalcy again, but when that will happen is also unknown.

My wife and I are definitely bypassing any indoor festivals until the worries are over. We are currently thinking pretty positively in terms of the outdoor Havasu camping festival in March as our next festival -- providing that things are not tightly locked down again at that time. Then possibly Grass Valley and SummerGrass later next year.

I have relatives in Vista, been there many times over the years but never to Summergrass. What's the venue like? How is the camping? Most of the festivals up here in the PNW have cancelled again this year.

The bluegrass world has always been a big eclectic family - diehard old time players, Deadheads, newgrassers, etc. But as a group we are exhibit A for COVID spread - tend to be older, tend to be conservative, tend toward homeopathic/non-standard healthcare beliefs, tend to give credence (where none is due) to some false and dangerous information.

It may take a couple more years for nature to take it's course here. Meanwhile there will be more needless suffering and disappointment I'm afraid.

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Originally Posted by Mandobart

I have relatives in Vista, been there many times over the years but never to Summergrass. What's the venue like? How is the camping? Most of the festivals up here in the PNW have cancelled again this year. ...

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SummerGrass is one of our favorite outdoor camping festivals. It is done at the "Antique Gas & Steam Engine Museum" in Vista, which is a great museum to visit by itself. Camping is done on the grounds, tent camping accommodating around 50 tent campers, actually near some of the steam engine exhibits, while RV camping is in an open field just across a stream from the tent camping. RV camping is divided into "Electric" and "Dry" camping and there are typically somewhere around 100 RVs present during the festival.

There is 24 hour jamming allowed in both of these camping areas. Since that's really why we go to festivals most of the time, we really enjoy this.

As far as performances are concerned, there is a permanent, formal elevated stage in a large field where the performances all occur. "Old Blue" does the sound for these performances, which can easily be heard throughout the venue, with exception of the camping areas where jamming may be competing for sound space.

Here's a pic of us performing there this year (I was on banjo):

Attachment 196048

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Originally Posted by dhergert

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On the good side of things, related to the band related couple that were in serious condition in the hospital and the wife had passed away, the husband's condition is improving and there is now hope he may survive. Clearly our best hopes and thoughts are also with him, his family, and with anyone dealing with illness.
...

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I'm sorry to say, unfortunately this friend has also passed away, just last night. Our deepest condolences go to all of this couple's family and friends. Sad times.

SummerGrass in Vista California is on schedule for this week... Anyone planning to be there?