Festivals

CALIFORNIA'S ROOTS A MERICANA FESTIVALS Have a festival or street fair to add to this list? Send a link to "CalAmericana" @ [ this site's URL]. CalAmericana lists in festivals and street fairs where roots Americana music has a substantive, as in more than 1-2 bands out of 15, presence.
JANUARY
48-Hour Jam Bakersfield	The California Bluegrass Association hosts a 2-day jam for all bluegrass pickers and grinners. No band performances, though there is a band scramble - mainly 48 hours of jamming. Spontaneous and free.
Blythe Bluegrass Festival Blythe	This 3-day festival features two stages, contests, quilt show, food, and merchandise booths. 200 mile wast of Los Angeles.
Old Time Fiddle Contest Cloverdale	This long-standing festival has added three new contest divisions and a band scramble, and as always, jam sessions, crafts and food. It is also a fund-raiser for the local museum. Cloverdale is 100 miles north of SF.
FEBRUARY
San Francisco Bluegrass and Old-Time Festival SF Bay Area	This 10-day festival takes place in locations throughout San Francisco, Alameda and Marin Counties. The main fare is bluegrass and old-time live performances along with jams, workshops, kids events, square and contra dances and more.
MARCH
Bluegrass on Broadway Redwood City	Bluegrass on Broadway also includes a bluegrass film festival, author symposium, and the Northern California Bluegrass Awards. Admission is free to all Bluegrass on Broadway events! Presented by th Northern California Bluegrass Association. 20 minutes south of SF.
Sonoma County Bluegrass and Folk Festival Sebastolpol	This one-day event is co-sponsored by the California Bluegrass Association and the Sonoma County Folk Society. This festival is open to different musical styles, including Hawaiian, which gives it a different approach than most bluegrass festivals.
APRIL
Viva Las Vegas Las Vegas	The four-day VLV event takes place on Easter weekend, which sometimes falls in March. It's held in Nevada, but produced by Californians and attended by people from all over the world, but mainly from California. Rockabilly, roots country and old school R&B figure prominently inn the mix. This event is more retro-cultural than music alone. Vintage hot rods and customs, a tiki pool party, retro vendors, vinyl spinning DJs and burlesque add to the character of VLV.
Stagecoach Country Music Festival Indio	This two-day festival, held just east of Palm Springs, features mainly country from "new" to "alt." Country jazz, bluegrass and even psychobilly can find their way onto the Empire Polo Club Stage.
MAY
Parkfield Bluegrass Festival Parkfield	Every Mother's Day weekend finds the rolling hill country of Parkfield (25 miles northeast of Paso Robles) hosting the high lonesome sound of bluegrass music with bands, workshops, jams and kids events.
Topanga Banjo & Fiddle Contest Aguora	The Topanga Banjo & Fiddle Contest moved to its present home at the Paramount Ranch near Agoura, California in the Santa Monica Mountains 25 miles northwest of Santa Monica. This full-blown event has grown far beyond its roots as a contest, though the name remains.
Santa Cruz Bluegrass Fair Santa Cruz	The Northern California Bluegrass Association's longest running event is this free one-day show held each May on the Duck Pond Stage in San Lorenzo Park, in downtown Santa Cruz. It is a celebration of International Bluegrass Music Month.
Strawberry Music Festival Camp Mather	The three-day Strawberry Music Festival takes place twice, once over Memorial and again over Labor Day weekend at Camp Mather near Yosemite. The festival features a wide range of musical acts representing many different musical genres including Americana, bluegrass, swing, rock, blues and gospel.
JUNE
California Bluegrass Assn. Festival Grass Valley	Billed as the largest bluegrass festival in the west, and produced by the largest bluegrass association in the west, this four-day Father's Day weekend festival features bands, workshops, jams, kids events and camping at the Nevada County Fairgrounds in the gold country foothills 90 minutes northeast of Sacramento.
Live Oak Music Festival Santa Barbara	Expect a mix of country, folk, bluegrass, blues, gospel and world at this three-day event. 100% of Live Oak proceeds go to support KCBX Public Radio! Nestled in the oak trees of the quiet Santa Ynez Valley, Live Oak comes alive as an outdoor music festival showcasing some of the finest musicians from around the world.
Huck Finn Jubilee Victorville	A three-day, multi-stage country, bluegrass and folk event with performances, workshops, jams, dances, reincarnations of Mark Twain and more in the desert town of Victorville, 30 minutes north of San Brenadino.
Mandolin Symposium Santa Cruz	The Mandolin Symposium features six days of workshops and performances with fine players and teachers who expose mandolin students of various levels to the diversity of music and technique that has developed over the past few hundred years throughout the world and here in the Americas.
San Francisco Free Folk Festival San Francisco	Music, song, dance and workshops are part of the SFFFF which is in fact free. The event features a variety of singer-songwriters and bands in, around, and beyond roots Americana, and is produced by the San Francisco Folk Music Club.
Kate Wolf Memorial Festival Laytonville	Three days and four stages are dedicated to a wide range of roots Americana music. Tributes to Kate Wolf and others make this adult- and kid-friendly festival popular year-in and year-out. 175 miles north of SF.
JULY
Scott Valley Bluegrass Festival Etna	Not to be confused with "Scotts" Valley near Santa Cruz, the town of Etna is about 100 miles north-northwest of Redding. This three-day event kicks off with jamming on Etna's Main Street. It is sponsored by the Scott Valley Bluegrass Association and proceeds go to the local high school scholarship fund.
AUGUST
Good Old-Fashioned Bluegrass Festival Hollister	This Northern California Bluegrass Society event features three days of California bands on the main stage, as well as campground jamming. The festival takes place on the second weekend in August at Bolado Park, just south of Hollister which is 40 minutes southeast of San Jose. There's camping, a kid-friendly atmosphere, crafts and an activities corral next to the audience area.
Summergrass Bluegrass Festival San Diego	A family-friendly three-day weekend of live bluegrass bands (national, international, regional & local), music workshops, impromptu jam sessions, vendors, special kid's activities, and onsite camping at the fascinating 40-acre outdoor Antique Gas & Steam Engine Museum in San Diego's North County.
SEPTEMBER
Strawberry Music Festival Camp Mather	The three-day Strawberry Music Festival takes place twice, once over Memorial and again over Labor Day weekend at Camp Mather near Yosemite. The festival features a wide range of musical acts representing many different musical genres including Americana, bluegrass, swing, rock, blues and gospel.
Bluegrassin' in the Foothills Plymouth	The three-day "bluegrassin'" festival is in the Sierra Nevada foothills at the Amador County Fairgrounds in Plymouth, about an hour east of Sacramento. There are performances, workshops, a kids stage, raffle, arts & crafts, classic cars and camping.
Millpond Music Festival Bishop	Located on the east side of the Sierras, east of Mammoth, this three-day festival features an eclectic mix, perhaps a third of which is roots Americana, making it ideal for those with wide-ranging musical tastes. Arts and crafts add to this festival experience.
Berkeley Old-Time Music Convention Berkeley	Held at various Berkeley locations over five days, this convention features film, lectures, workshops, dances, children's events, a cabaret, and plenty of Old-Time music.
Julian Bluegrass Festival Julian	This two-day festival is held in the historic gold mining town of Julian, about an hour east of San Diego in the Sierra Foothills. Sponsored by the Julian Lion's Club, the event is held in the town's Frank Lane Park.
Hobbs Grove Bluegrass Festival Sanger	The California Bluegrass Asociation offers three days of music, jams, workshops and concessions; Sunday morning bluegrass church and instrument raffle to benefit Sanger is 15 miles east of Fresno.
Old Time Bluegrass Festival Lower Lake	This one-day festival is jointly produced by Anderson Marsh Interpretive Association, Children's Museum of Art & Science and the Clear Lake Chamber of Commerce in Lower Lake, 110 miles north of San Francisco.
OCTOBER
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival San Francisco	This is the greatest roots Americana festival in the world and it's free. Headliners from all over the US play for three days on six stages in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. Bluegrass accounts for less than half of the variety with alt-country and niches of pop, rock and more in the mix.
Rockabilly Rave USA Las Vegas	Produced in association with Viva Las Vegas (see April), the three-day Rockabilly Rave's main focus in on rockabilly music and features many European bands, vendors and DJs that spin vinyl.