This time around Taco Negro journeyed all the way to Grass Valley, California (about a 6-hour drive) for the Father’s Day Festival.
Checking the weather revealed the daunting truth that it was going to be a lot warmer in Grass Valley. In fact, the day I checked (two days before we left) there was a heat advisory going on for the entire Sacramento area. The temperature at the time? 100 degrees.
The festival takes place at the Nevada County Fairgrounds and a Google search revealed the presence of trees – and lots of them. Still, we crossed our fingers for the ability to camp in the shade.
Lucky for us the heat wave (described as the “first of the summer”) had mostly passed by the time we arrived at the Fairgrounds. Daytime highs were in the mid-80’s. As we pulled in around 7pm that night and headed towards the check-in area, Michael pointed to a volunteer directing traffic.
“I know you,” he said. “You’re Steve.” The guy looked a little surprised and came in for a closer look.
“We picked together at the Good Old Fashioned Festival last year,” Michael went on. He introduced himself and the guy’s face lit up.
“I remember you!” he said. And then Steve gave us the lowdown on the best place to look for a camping spot. “Come find me after you’re set up,” he said. “I’m in a vintage trailer over by the old bathrooms.”
Thanks to Steve we landed in the shade.
The camping areas were full, but not packed. I say this as a RockyGrass veteran who’s seen every scrap of available land get taken by a tent. Sometimes just walking around there is difficult. But as you can see in the photo above, we had plenty of space.
After completing our setup we took a walk. Partly to get a lay of the land, and partly to find Steve’s vintage trailer. The “old bathrooms” turned out to be the only place to get a shower at the fairgrounds. Nearby we stumbled across the beauty that Steve was calling home during the festival:
We chatted for a while and eventually Steve grabbed his guitar and we all headed back to our sweet campsite. It was late – for me, anyway – but Steve and Michael both asked me to sing and I didn’t want to pass up that opportunity. We had a fabulous little pick.
Next thing I knew it was midnight and my fingers hurt. I headed off to bed and the guys headed off to find another pick.
Festival: Day One was a total success.
This festival would involve a new experience for both Michael and me. Instead of buying our festival and camping tickets, we agreed to volunteer at the festival. This is pretty common at festivals, even big ones like RockyGrass. We’d signed up to work the merchandise tent (hereafter referred to as the Merch Tent), and the agreement was one 4-hour shift for each day of the festival.
The cool thing about the Merch Tent, we were told, is that it’s in the shade, and in full sight of the stage so when you’re working you can see every band. Our first shift was from 1:30-5:30.
Next post: The Volunteer Experience, and all the awesome bands we got to see. Plus the Midnight Hot Dog Stand! Stay tuned…