Late Season Bluegrass Festivals For Northern California

Here are the late-season festivals of interest to Northern California Bluegrass fans:

AUGUST

24-27 – Bowers Bluegrass Festival, Bowers Mansion Regional Park, New Washoe City, NV.

SEPTEMBER

1-3 – Plumas Homegrown Americana Festival, Plumas County Fairgrounds, Quincy, (NCBS welcomed)

20-24 – Berkeley Old Time Music Convention, various venues, Berkeley.

23 – Jamesburg School Bluegrass Festival, Jamesburg School Community Center, Carmel Valley.

23 – Columbia Fiddle & Bango Contest, Gazebo, Columbia State Historic Park, Columbia.

26-30 – IBMA World Of Bluegrass, Raleigh Convention Center, Raleigh, NC. (NCBS welcomed)

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER

September 29-October 1 – Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Hellman Hollow, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco.

NCBS Welcomes The Plumas Homegrown Americana Festival On Labor Day Weekend

The Northern California Bluegrass Society welcomes the 2023 Plumas Homegrown Americana Festival on Labor Day Weekend in Quincy. The September 1-3 event will be held at the Plumas County Fairgrounds.

The Wildcat Mountain Ramblers (host band), Salty Sally, Banana & The Bunch, and Dirty Cello are among the Bay Area bands set to perform. There will be plenty of tickets at the gate. Camping areas are plentiful and nice. A Friday evening Open Mike and a spaghetti feed will be hosted by Chef Mike. The NCBS Information Booth will be there.

The Plumas County Fairgrounds, Quincy.

NCBS National Stolen & Missing Instrument Page Is On This Website

The NCBS National Bluegrass Stolen & Missing Instrument Page is on this website. This service is for both theft victims and used instrument buyers. It provides a central reporting location for the recovery of stolen or lost bluegrass instruments.

Musicians should immediately SELF POST information about stolen instruments. Instrument buyers should CHECK the page prior to purchase of any used instrument. The FREE page is searchable, and links can be added to connect additional information about the instrument.

AJ Lee Is Named Honorary NCBS Board Of Directors Member

AJ Lee has been named the first Honorary Member of the Northern California Bluegrass Society Board Of Directors. She served for 7 years as an elected member of the board. The demands of her new role as a nationally and internationally touring bluegrass star made it necessary for her to decline to run for another term in 2023.

She has a long record of involvement and work with the bluegrass society. She first performed at the GOF when she was only 6 years old. She began playing with Kids On Stage and the ‘Tweener Stage, and then became a regular Main Stage performer.

Her last in-person GOF performance with her band AJ Lee & Blue Summit was in 2018, the same year that she did the sound for the First Stage. She also performed on the 2020 online GOF festival during the pandemic. She led a GOF set-up crew, helped with the design process for the festival shirt and poster, and was an advocate for the difficult task of raising GOF band pay.

Lee also participated in the NCBS Bluegrass On Broadway Festival, where she received numerous honors as a part of the NCBS Northern California Bluegrass Awards over the years.

Thanks, AJ! We wish you the best of luck in your bluegrass career!

AJ Lee

 

 

Thanks To All The 2023 Good Old Fashioned Volunteers

Thanks to all of the dedicated, hard-working NCBS Good Old Fashioned Bluegrass Festival Volunteers who spent the past weekend (or the past year!) making the festival happen. Your efforts are much appreciated!

Thanks also go to the volunteers of the San Benito County Historical Society who make the park so beautiful!

And thanks to the bands and their fans who have supported the event over many years!

The 30th GOF gathering will take place August 8-11, 2024. See you there!

The Jubilee Uncles

 

 

 

 

New NCBS Board Of Directors Elected For The 2023-2024 Term

The members of the Northern California Bluegrass Society elected the following to serve as the Board Of Directors for the 2023-2024 term:

Gary Anwyl (Palo Alto), Bruce Bellochio (Brookdale), Eric Burman (Bonny Doon), Scott Conroy (San Luis Obispo), Bruce Edmundson (Sunnyvale), Michael Hall (Redwood City), Lois Kellerman (Mountain View), Joanne Minasi (Tracy), and Mike Russell (Fremont).

Thanks to our retiring board members: Mike Fisher, AJ Lee, Karen Reyes, and Amy Warren.

Historic 30th Good Old Fashioned Bluegrass Festival Set For August 8-11, 2024

The Northen California Bluegrass Society has announced that the Historic 30th Good Old Fashioned Bluegrass Festival has been set for August 8-11, 2024. The then Santa Cruz Bluegrass Society staged the first GOF at Bolado Park in 1994. (Due to the pandemic, the 2020 festival was held online and no festival was held in 2021.)

See you at the San Benito County Historical Park next August — and thanks for your support!

Sunday At The Good Old Fashioned Bluegrass Festival

There have been some changes to the Sunday schedule. The Wildcat Mountain Ramblers will perform at 10:00am. Sunny Side Of The Mountain will play at Noon. This year, there will not be a Kids On Stage show.

SUNDAY, August 13

Main Stage

10:00am — Wildcat Mountain Ramblers

11:00 — Lonesome Still

Noon — Sunny Side Of The Mountain

1:00pm — West 45

2:00 — Eric Burman & The Brookdale Bluegrass Band

The Northern California Bluegrass Society Good Old Fashioned Bluegrass Festival runs August 10-13 at the San Benito County Historical Park, Tres Pinos.

Saturday At The Good Old Fashioned Bluegrass Festival

SATURDAY, August 12

Main Stage

10:00am — The Courthouse Ramblers

11:00 — Festival Speed Bluegrass

Noon — Who’s Feeling Young Now

1:00pm — Lunch Break/Workshops/Tours

2:00 — Marin County Breakdown

3:00 — The Post Folk Revivalists

4:00 — Mission Blue

5:00 — The Storytellers

6:00 — Dinner Break

7:00 — The Jubilee Uncles

8:00 — The Goat Hill Girls

9:00 — Red Dog Ash

Dance Hall Stage

10:00pm — Brent Pierce & His Acid Grass Boys

The Northern California Bluegrass Society Good Old Fashioned Bluegrass Festival runs August 10-13 at the San Benito County Historical Park, Tres Pinos.