Photo courtesy of High Sierra Music Festival

One of the best things about living in the greater Sacramento area is our proximity to so many awesome campsites. Whether heading up to Tahoe, the foothills, the Delta or one of the many camp friendly lakes in the region, there is no lack of beautiful places to pitch a tent or post up in an RV. What’s even better than camping? Camping at a music festival! Luckily for us, there are quite a few upcoming festivals this year that encourage you to camp out to get the full experience. Here’s a brief rundown of just some of them. So dust off that tent, gather some pals, fill up some ice chests and head on out for an epic weekend of camping and jamming.


Photo by Charles Gullung

First up this month is Huichica Sonoma (pronounced wah-chee-ka), two days of music, wine and food at Gundlach Bundschu Winery, going down this weekend on June 7–8, 2019. The musical lineup includes Lee Fields and the Expressions, Real Estate, Connan Mockasin, Love Band feat. Johnny Echols, Foxwarren, Dean Wareham, Fruit Bats, Spiral Stairs, Chuck Prophet and the Mission Express and tons more. For those interested in camping, the closest spot is Skyline Regional Park in Napa, just 12 miles to the east. Check out Sonoma.huichica.com for more info on this rad micro-fest.



While not technically a “music festival,” South Lake Tahoe’s popular Live at Lakeview concert series kicks off later this month on June 20, 2019, and runs every Thursday through the end of August (with the exception of July 4). Live at Lakeview concerts are free and take place from 4:30–8:30 p.m. at Lakeview Commons at El Dorado Beach, and the stage is literally on the beach so you watch the bands with Lake Tahoe in the background. Submerge has made the trek up to Live at Lakeview before, so trust us when we say it’s amazing and well worth the couple hour drive. Pretty much directly across the road from where the concerts take place is the City of South Lake Tahoe’s Campground by the Lake, where they have cabins, tent cabins and plenty of tent sites available for very reasonable rates. Call the campsite at (530) 542-6096 for more info or visit Cityofslt.us/270/Campground-by-the-Lake to make reservations online. Hit up Live at Lakeview, camp out across the street for a night or two, rent some bikes, kayaks or paddle boards nearby and make an epic weekend out of it! A nice way to beat the Sacramento heat later on this summer. Check out the recently announced lineup at Facebook.com/liveatlakeviewcommons.



Later this month, from June 28–30, 2019, check out the eighth and final OwlFest, taking place at the Blue Mountain Event Center in Wilseyville, about two hours east of Sacramento. Tons of killer bands are on the bill, including Kai Kln, MAU, The Verge, Trikome, Campfire Crooners, Braden Scott, Spidermeow, Hannah Jane Kile, Jon Emery Dodds, Mike Blanchard and the Californios, Watt Ave Soul Giants, The Bongo Furys and plenty of others. Just $90 covers your camping all weekend and full access to all of the nearly 30 performances. Kids 14 and under are just $50 (yes this fest is very family friendly!). Damn good bang for your buck on this one, folks! Hit up Owlfestmusic.weebly.com or Facebook.com/OwlfestForever for more info.


Photo by Justin Halgren


This year’s High Sierra Music Festival, which takes place in Quincy (about a three hour drive from Sacramento) will run from July 4–7, 2019, and will feature headliners such as Dispatch, Umphrey’s McGee, Greensky Bluegrass, Jim James, St. Paul and the Broken Bones, Galactic, The Del McCoury Band and dozens of other acts. Your festival pass includes camping, which is first come, first served. There are a few options for spots to set up a tent and also RV options. You’ll want to hit up Highsierramusic.com/camping-parking for all the details.


Photo by Alan Sheckter


The 23rd annual California WorldFest happens right in our backyard in beautiful Grass Valley and is going down from July 11–14, 2019. This year, WF will feature a diverse range of music from all over the globe, including acts like Lila Downs, Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue, Toots and the Maytals, Turkuaz, Las Cafeteras, Delhi 2 Dublin, Taimane, The Turbans and too many others to list here. The event takes place at Nevada County Fairgrounds, where you can camp out under tall pines and oaks, where it’s nice and shady with level terrain. You’ll need a separate camping pass, though, in addition to your festival ticket, and RV slots are already sold out, so check out Worldfest.net/worldfest-camping in a hurry for more info.


Photo by Casey Davidson


From July 25–28, 2019, the ninth annual GuitarFish Music Festival will take place in Cisco Grove, 20 miles west of Truckee, and approximately an hour-and-a-half from Sacramento up I-80. This year’s lineup includes Kinky, The California Honeydrops, Yak Attack, Afrolicious, Smoked Out Soul, Diggin Dirt, Earth Arrow, Mestizo Beat and many more. Your weekend pass includes festival-style tent camping at the Cisco Grove Campground, which has plenty of showers, restrooms, water, swimming, trees and shade! Check out Guitarfishfestival.com for more.


If you know of any other camp-friendly music festivals or events in or around Northern California that you want to get on our radar, email us at info@submergemag.com.

**This piece first appeared in print on pages 6 – 7 of issue #293 (June 5 – 19, 2019)**

    Jonathan Carabba

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    Find me at the bowling alley. Co-founder + Advertising Director + Marketing at Submerge. Contact: jonathan@submergemag.com

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