From the Mateel Community Center:
What: 27th annual Reggae On The River
Where: Benbow Lake State Recreation Area (Garberville, CA)
When: Saturday & Sunday, July 16-17, 2011
Why: Internationally renowned celebration of reggae & world music!
For immediate release:
Reggae On The River Talent Announced/ Local Outlet Tickets Now Available
On the weekend of July 16th and 17th, 2011, the Mateel Community Center is proud to present the 27th annual Reggae On The River at Benbow Lake State Recreation Area in southern Humboldt County, CA. An internationally renowned showcase of the best in reggae and world music, this year’s event will feature two stages (an ROTR first!) and is shaping up to be a good one.
Though the full line-up is not totally complete, a list of the confirmed acts so far includes Ky-Mani Marley, Gramps Morgan, Seun Anikulapo Kuti & Egypt 80, J Boog, Tony Rebel, Queen Ifrica, Bushman, Gondwana, Rootz Underground, Annette Brissett, Perfect, Clinton Fearon, Army, HR, Edi Fitzroy, Pashon Minott, Indubious, Zili Misik, SILA, Sahra Indio, Native Elements, The Alliez, The Impalers, Jah Sun & Ishi Dube w/ Redemption Band, Jade Steel, and Ambush, with several acts still TBA.
Weekend passes are currently available online at www.reggaeontheriver.com and at the usual local outlets in Humboldt and Mendocino Counties. Advance tickets are advised as this event sells out. Single day tickets will go on sale June 15th if the event is not sold out by this point.
For more information on the 27th annual Reggae On The River visit http://www.reggaeontheriver.com or call (707) 923-3368 and be sure to make your plans soon to join the festival fun on the weekend of July 16 and 17.
35 comments
Comments feed for this article
April 16, 2011 at 5:43 am
capdiamont
There was an article in the TS, saying they hadn’t applied for permits yet. Due to time frame, they would be unlikely to get a permit in time.
Did things change? Do they have a permit?
April 16, 2011 at 6:59 am
Mitch
Reggae on the River is not Reggae Rising.
April 16, 2011 at 7:28 am
Eric Kirk
Different concert Cap.
April 16, 2011 at 8:14 am
Anonymous
Thank you CB and pp and td for the confusion about concerts.
April 16, 2011 at 10:39 am
454
I sense a phoenix rising from the ashes.
April 16, 2011 at 10:53 am
WTF
Did you mean “Cap” or Crap?
The Mateel is very lucky to have RoR at Benbow, same with SAMF. They are not required by the County to have a ticket/admission restriction. In fact Benbow State Park doesn’t require anything like the County would to have the same events on private property. I think its the best of both worlds, unless you live in Benbow. But hey, its only twice a years. What’s 5 or 6 days out of ones life once a year anyway, compared to the social, civic and economic benefits/needs of the community. God bless Reggae Music and heaven help our River………….
April 16, 2011 at 12:40 pm
moviedad
No camping eh?
April 16, 2011 at 2:43 pm
Not A Native
Gee, I thought it was going to be moved to the SHCP where fewer police would be watching the scene. What’s the holdup?
April 16, 2011 at 2:50 pm
Sally
moviedad, there will be camping – just like last year – in Cooks Valley, with shuttles running back and forth.
April 16, 2011 at 7:36 pm
Jim
Sally, I have contacted Cooks and not received a response as to availability or even that they are open for other camping. It is planning time, as the state park grounds in the area fill up most weekends months in advance, so I was disappointed not to hear back.
I very much look forward to the wonderful shows and getting back home. Should be up a few times this summer, hope that things dry out for you all.
April 17, 2011 at 6:38 am
Jane
So where did the Black Oak Ranch event move to if not Dimmicks? And by the way the Benbow site does have caps. Parks consulted with CB on those caps believe it or not–they evidently thought she was an expert on controlling attendance levels.
April 17, 2011 at 6:58 am
Kim
The Black Oak Ranch event, Earthdance, has moved to the Solano County Fair grounds in Vallejo. It is held in September.
The new Black Oak Ranch event is called the Gaia Festival. It is being staged on the first weekend in August at the Hog Farm in Laytonville in Mendocino County. There are no permits for any events to be held at the Dimmick Ranch.
There are caps on the attendance level for ROTR at Benbow Sate Park.
April 17, 2011 at 9:10 am
Jane
Thanks Kim for the info. I am out of the loop. Although I do know that not every event has to have a permit. It is dependent on a few factors.
April 17, 2011 at 9:38 am
WTF
Kim 6:58 am
“There are caps on the attendance level for ROTR at Benbow Sate Park”
Do you know how this is accomplished and what is the number?
April 17, 2011 at 12:46 pm
Kim
No, Jane. I do not know how the attendance cap was established. Perhaps it was by trial and error. We used to have some pretty well attended one night shows at Benbow State Park. I recall some crowded ones, like the Marley brothers, and The String Cheese Incident, and others, which would show someone paying attention that there is a comfortable number of attendees at any show held there. Parking becomes a major issue as soon as a large group of people head down to an event there.
Someone will correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the daily attendance at Benbow is capped at 3500, a number which , again I believe, includes the staff it takes to put the event on.
A check of the MCC ROTR site shows hotels and camp areas available near the concert site. It conspicuously doesn’t list Keith Bowman’s Cooks Valley Campground.
April 17, 2011 at 4:45 pm
WTF
Thanks Kim. Here were the unofficial the numbers from last year,
“The festival, which was held at Benbow State Recreation Area on July 17 and 18, sold out at 3,000 tickets. Including staff, volunteers, vendors, and complimentary ticket holders, approximately 3,500 people attended the event each day”
So this year with NO Reggae Rising or Earth Dance, ROTR should have a good turn-out. Don’t think the gas price will keep people away, just hope the people coming into this area will be respectful and leave no trace behind.
April 17, 2011 at 10:47 pm
pathetic actually
Caps on events at Benbow are set by State Park officials. I believe that MCC is negotiating/has negotiated an increase for 2011 ROTR based on the Park’s satisfaction with past performance by MCC. I think MCC was asking for the cap to be raised to 4000 paid admissions for each day of ROTR, plus the support staff, security, performers, etc. There is usually a contract signed between MCC and Benbow which specifies the terms of agreement for each year’s festival. The most likely source of verification for this info should be the MCC’s two paid festival producers/coordinators Katz Boose and Justin Crellin. Any MCC member ought to be able to get that from them any time.
Caps for the Summer Arts Festival work a bit differently. Unlike ROTR, where most ticketholders will come and stay on the grounds for the whole shebang, folks come and go for a few hours at a time for Summer Arts. So I believe that the Benbow site supervisor gives them more flexibility than just a straight cap on paid admissions. I think it kind of comes down to what the Park’s experience was with MCC’s production the year before–when things go well, as they have been going, the Park is more indulgent.
April 18, 2011 at 4:39 am
Jane
Sorry I was vague in my statement. I know how Parks set their cap at Benbow. I was referring to the County and setting caps for events in general. It used to be arbitrary criteria used for when a private event turned public and needed a permit. Generally when someone’s hair caught on fire the previous year. It may have changed.
April 18, 2011 at 4:42 am
Jane
If the show is sold out and there is high demand for those tickets the price goes up right? If the MCC doesn’t raise it then the scalpers will. I, for one, would hate to see those tickets become local currency again.
April 18, 2011 at 8:48 am
Terri
Then maybe you should be telling the MCC not to fall back into paying people with wristbands instead of money, as PP did on behalf of MCC for many years. In the olden days, that contributed mightily to the use of wrsitbands as currency. MCC and PP all got more actual money if they used the bands as cash, and left locals with wristband pay that they sold on the open market. It helped turn a 8-10,000 person permitted event into a 25,000+ person attended event, and led to the County insisting on security measures like serially numbered and audited wristbands.
April 18, 2011 at 9:11 am
WTF
Good point Jane.
In the Park Boards GPA EIR application for Concerts and festival events at the Community Park, they are not restricted by ticket sales, only by “at any one given time”. So the example the Park Board gives, is that Large events up to 5000, they are only limited to 4000 people at one given time through out the day. You do the math.
April 18, 2011 at 10:01 am
Terri
How come you zapped my post? Was it offensive? Disinformation? What?
April 18, 2011 at 4:39 pm
Anonymous
MCC better listen to Terri.
April 18, 2011 at 4:57 pm
Jim
WTF- Yes, at least I’ll be respectful of the area when I visit, but then again, I’m not your typical reggae attendee (grew up in SoHum). And while gas is an issue, it won’t be preventing my annual vacations.
Terri- Very interesting post! I left the area before the peoplerati really got going and the wristband stuff got out of hand. Would love to hear stories of the way things was….
I’ll probably end up at HRSP and drive in.
I very much hope that they can get things worked out for a site with on-site camping next year, as you can have a smaller and more environmentally-sound event than either RR or the current version of ROTR have produced (25K people and long commutes to the fest are not sustainable).
April 18, 2011 at 5:10 pm
bongandablintz?
Has anyone ever seen anyone held up at the Gate at SAMf because too many people at one time were already there? I haven’t, but maybe they do it. Seems to me like they just let people in all day without counting, since there are several gates.
How ’bout the Mateel deciding that RoR is going to go later at night this year? Wonder how the neighbors feel about that? Does the state park know? Or do they just take orders now?
Was it really just evil ole PP that minted money as wristbands?
April 18, 2011 at 11:01 pm
Terri
It appears that the Park staff pays close attention to the state of each MCC festival at Benbow. It does seem that the Park employs a flexible approach in evaluation of numbers for Summer Arts, taking into account the tendency of people to come and go and the nature of that festival compared to Reggae. They seem very conscientious in knowing and assessing the needs of the Park and the community, while ensuring that events are always under control. Park supervisors have sufficient staff on duty to ensure that all goes smoothly from their point of view, and charges MCC accordingly.
And clearly, Reggae will not have on-site camping so long as it’s at Benbow. That’s at least part of the reason that MCC is evaluating a move back to French’s Camp. Others are pining for the good old dazed. MCC president Doug Green has been speaking publicly 4ever about going back to French’s. I’m sure that MCC has the staff who could organize the fully contained festival Jim wants if they get a place, French’s or other private land. But it would be a qualitative and LARGE quantitative shift to produce a show at French’s Camp compared to the stable but limited venue at Benbow which has kept the Mateel financial ship going the last few years.
April 19, 2011 at 8:27 am
Anonymous
MCC Better listen to Terri. Keep your financial ship stable and don’t piss off the natives. Dog Green better listen to Terri.
April 19, 2011 at 11:24 am
Terri
Didn’t the members elect Doug because they like his vision and wanted him to replace the old guard on the board? He’s just a hard-working volunteer like the rest of the members of the Board, whether you agree with him or not.
April 19, 2011 at 4:56 pm
Anonymous
“Didn’t the members elect Doug because they like his vision and wanted him to replace the old guard on the board?”
No. It was his different approach visavis the staff.
April 19, 2011 at 5:37 pm
Jim
Thanks for the insight Terri.
I agree that any move should be in the best interests of the community and center, not party-goers (although I wouldn’t include myself in that group). But generally, longer, bigger events with people on-site produces more economic activity, less environmental damage due to commuting and a better experience for most. I would hate for the positive direction of the past couple of years to go back to the debauchery of the 2000′s though.
That is a really hard hair to split, should it be small and less-centralized, or bigger with more options and people? Each have pluses, minuses, risks and potential benefits that are not easy to accurately estimate.
April 19, 2011 at 6:41 pm
WTF
Terri,
My “volunteer”, you mean not compensation?
April 20, 2011 at 8:11 am
Anonymous
Who is getting paid how much for doing what? Small and less centralized seems to be working for everybody. Why fix it if it ain’t broke?
April 20, 2011 at 9:04 am
Terri
Specific info available only from MCC. Members should have access.
April 20, 2011 at 9:05 pm
Anonymous
Wah wah wah wah wah
April 20, 2011 at 9:30 pm
Jane
The fallacy of “it’s not broke don’t fix it” strategy.
In the real world things change. People take time to think about things and make them happen. Nonprofit boards are notoriously slow at getting around to doing anything because they are your neighbors and not big time corporate moguls. If small changes are not made regularly to keep up with the times then suddenly an organization will find themselves in a heap of doo-doo and have to make drastic lurches to try to right things. Waiting until things are broken is too late. The genie is pretty hard to stuff back in the bottle. And most people hate change even when it comes in small doses.