Summergrass Success!

John Moore & friends on the main stage. Photo by Dwight Worden.

Slow jam in the Thursday Night Pickers compound. Photo by Dwight Worden.

John Jorgenson Bluesgrass BAnd on the main stage. Photo by David Dupp.

Over the long weekend of August 14-16, 2026, the annual Summergrass Bluegrass Festival graced the stage and grounds at the Antique Gas and Steam Engine Museum in Vista. The festival was started in 2003 by the non-profit San Diego Bluegrass Society, inc. and the North San Diego County Bluegrass and Folk Club, inc. as 50-50 non-profit partners. In 2023 these non-profits transferred the festival to the Antique Gas and Steam Engine Museum, also a non-profit and the long-term venue host of the festival.

Please enjoy these great David Cupp photos. The weather was pleasant, warm but breezy. Lots of great picking in the “compound” sponsored by Glen Bailey and the Thursday Night Pickers. The stage shows were great as was the kids camp show!

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.