Summer Bluegrass

Summergrass Festival Main Stage

Summer is the time for bluegrass music festivals. We have the California Bluegrass Association’s (CBA) Father’s Day Festival in Grass Valley California. This is  a major national festival with a decade’s long history. It’s held every Father’s Day in June. To learn more about this year’s festival that just concluded and to see the lineup: Father’s Day Festival – California Bluegrass Association:

We also have the Summergrass Festival here in San Diego at the Antique Gas and Steam Engine Museum in Vista. This event is in it is 24^th year. It extends over three days, featuring top bands, camping, workshops, and more. Read all about this year’s event coming on August 14-16: Summergrass San Diego Bluegrass Festival – The best of bluegrass in the heart of San Diego County.

The annual Sam Hinton Festival is produced every year by the San Diego Folk Heritage Society. This year’s event  concluded June 6^th of this year. You can read about it here: Sam Hinton Folk Heritage Festival | KPBS Public Media. We also have the Huck Finn Jubalee coming October 2-4, 2026 with a great lineup. Check it out here:” Huck Finn Jubilee – Bluegrass Music Festival

Why is it that festivals are so important to bluegrass music? There are many reasons, but here are a few of the top reasons. First, bluegrass music was made popular from its foundation in the1940s by great groups like Bill Monroe and his Bluegrass Boys, and a bit later Flatt and Scruggs. As we moved into the mid 1950s with the rise of TV and rock ‘n’ roll radio, bluegrass music was quickly overshadowed. By the early 1960s bluegrass music was not prominent on AM radio or on on TV. Elvis Presley, rock ‘n’ roll, Motown, and other forms of entertainment eclipsed it. Bluegrass always had a niche audience, but its prominence was fading.

It was in the 1960s that the first bluegrass festival was held. This was a new concept at the time. This first event was the Fincastle Bluegrass Festival, held September 3–5, 1965, at Cantrell’s Horse Farm just north of Fincastle, Virginia. This was a big hit. Folks could attend with their families, enjoy camping, music, workshops, food, and more. It became more of an event than just a concert. This format soon caught on and today we have festivals all over the country and even all over the world. They are the life blood of performing bluegrass bands as they provide the major opportunity for good paying gigs and to showcase a performers talent.

Local band Gone Tomorrow performing at SDSU. Photo by Dennis Andersen.

If you want to see what this is all about, get out and attend one of these wonderful festivals. You won’t regret it! If you don’t want to wait for a festival, check out one of the two prominent bluegrass music non-profit organizations in San Diego. They hold regular events weekly that are open to the public. Players and listeners are all welcome. San Diego Bluegrass Society (SDBS) and the North San Diego County Bluegrass and Folk Club (NCBFC)

I’ll look for you at one of the coming events this summer!

Dwight Worden, who has been writing a bluegrass column for the Troubadour since its beginning, plays guitar, fiddle, mandolin, and bass and is active in several bluegrass bands. He is a board member of the San Diego Bluegrass Society, a prior board member of the International Bluegrass Music Association, a recovering lawyer, a Del Mar council member for 10 years, and mayor of the City of Del Mar for two years.