High Sierra: Making The World a Better Place, One Festival at a Time
The amazing music and camping festival is transformative - however, it's future is imperiled
I’ve been attending music festivals for over 40 years, but my soul yearns for the High Sierra Music Festival each summer. This family-owned festival consistently delivers one of the greatest festival experiences anywhere in the world.
I don’t hesitate to express my admiration for High Sierra and its creators. When I extol the festival's virtues, people think I am making it up.
They ask, “How can one festival consistently provide so much healthy joy, inspiration, music, ambiance, good food, and good vibes?” It’s a great question, and I will try to explain it humbly.
Let’s begin with this fact: High Sierra’s producers are festival experts who have been doing this for 30 years. There is no substitute for experience. They are laid-back but well-organized. They have created a big enough festival where you feel the transcendence of humanity, but not overwhelming, so you lose your sanity.
Here is What Makes It Awesome
It’s super creative. The festival provides many opportunities for expression and celebration for people of all backgrounds. A daily parade wraps around the festival with mesmerizing drumming, dancing, and larger-than-life puppets.
It’s cool for families. You don’t have to give up on being a festival goer now that you have kids. Grab some good ear protection for the little ones, and you can bring them along. They even have playgroups. At High Sierra, creative children’s programs coexist in the same festival with sophisticated musical collaborations. So very cool.
It’s non-stop. High Sierra is also renowned for being a non-stop, 24-hour-a-day festival where curated shows and programs run all day and all night, with few breaks. Some late-night shows offer rare performances and jams that are found nowhere else.
A musician friend said, “High Sierra is a musician’s music festival, where the great musicians come to enjoy themselves. And we all benefit.”
It’s clean. As the High Sierra Music Festival is located at the Plumas County Fairgrounds, you have access to an air-conditioned building if you ever get too hot, real bathrooms, and showers. The paths are all paved and well taken care of.
It’s a village. Integrating the many stages and performance spaces in a small area is remarkable. Additionally, many of the festival goers camp or RV inside the festival — something that doesn’t happen at any other major festival — the festival feels like its own village.
Community. Shabbat Tent has been a feature of High Sierra since 2011, thanks to a wonderful collaboration with the owners. Every year, we look forward to hosting many of the same folks we see only once a year. A wider community also joined Shabbat Tent last year; we had 250 people for Shabbat Dinner, a festival record.
Line-up. High Sierra has mastered the art of the perfect lineup. What makes a music festival lineup memorable is not just one band or another; it is the overall impact of the music selection on your soul. This year, Ziggy Marley will be the headliner.
There is also daily meditation and refreshments at the Shabbat Tent, Yoga on the field, Sunrise Kickball, and many other unique features.
And, of course, our legendary Shabbat gathering and dinner.
This May Be The Last Festival
As we prepare for our pilgrimage to High Sierra, which starts July 4th in Quincy, CA, we are also concerned for its future. The festival said, “…we find ourselves facing a new economic reality that threatens the future of High Sierra Music Festival. The present moment teeters on the brink of another financial setback, one which we simply cannot endure, and throws into question the future of the High Sierra Music Festival beyond this year.”
Large corporations own and operate most of the music festival industry, focusing on mega-festivals, Electronic Dance Music, and club-style entertainment. This change has created an economic disadvantage for independent music festivals catering to families and acoustic, folk, and world music. Running these kinds of concerts and festivals has a low profit margin, and these recent trends in the festival space endanger their future viability.
Additionally, as a consequence, many young adults and children today cannot experience live acoustic, folk, and world music festivals. They don’t have the chance to enjoy a weekend featuring acoustic musical geniuses whose music captivates and elevates the soul.
I’m a firm believer in the power of music festivals to make the world a better place by bringing people from different walks of life together to enjoy music and be uplifted. Music and community can elevate our souls and enable us to build a more compassionate society.
We hope that High Sierra has a long future, but just in case, maybe make plans to join us there this year!
You can visit Rabbi Yonah this year at the High Sierra Music Festival at Shabbat Tent, a hospitality tent on the festival grounds near the main entrance.
It is a special place embracing all who journey there. How can their fans help them continue going forward?