SAN FRANCISCO — Hardly Strictly Bluegrass on Wednesday announced its first round of acts perform this fall including Marcus Mumford, Allison Russell, Las Cafeterias and more when the free music festival returns to Golden Gate Park.
The festival, which will take place from Sept. 30 to Oct. 2, is built around the theme of coming “Back to the Park” after two years of virtual festivals due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The recently released first medley should get fans really excited about what’s in store for them this year — a little bit of everything,” Hardly Strictly Bluegrass executive producer Sheri Sternberg said. “The entire staff is looking forward to returning home to the best backdrop any festival could ask for.”
Among the other acts Hardly Strictly Bluegrass teased in a medley of songs posted on the festival website Wednesday were Lucius, Galactic, AJ Lee & Blue Summit, Joy Oladokun, Charley Crockett, Deshawn Hickman with local hero Charlie Hunter and festival mainstay Buddy Miller.
“We’ve heard about Hardly Strictly over the years and are thrilled to be part of this gift to the city, a beautifully curated musical weekend made free and accessible to its residents in one of the great parks in the world,” Holly Laessig, from the band Lucius, said in a press release.
The multi-stage dayslong festival has expanded from its beginning as a local single-day event when it was founded by investment banker and philanthropist Warren Hellman two decades ago. Hellman intended for the annual event, which is free to the public, to be a gift to San Francisco, celebrating American music.
The festival features a variety of genres, including Americana, funk, rock and soul.
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass will be hosting its first in-person festival since 2019, with organizers expressing excitement to be back in Golden Gate Park after the hardships the pandemic brought.
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass also continued philanthropy efforts for the music industry during the pandemic, with more than $4 million being distributed to the music and arts communities in the Bay Area and across the country, festival organizers said.
Esther’s Orbit Room Cultural Revival Project, Sweet Relief’s COVID-19 Fund and The Tenderloin Museum’s Sounds of the Tenderloin project received $1 million from Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in 2021, event organizers said.
The 2020 digital event, “Let The Music Play On,” featured a three-hour broadcast that generated more than 1 million views. The “Come What May” festival in 2021 was also virtual, showing performances filmed in both New Orleans and San Francisco. Both digital festivals can still be viewed online.
The festival, while open to the public, will feature perimeter fencing with security screening at each entrance for safety purposes. Hard-sided coolers will not be allowed.
Event organizers encourage all attendees to be fully vaccinated and to test negative prior to the festival, with masks being encouraged whenever not eating or drinking.
More details about the festival can be found on the official HSB website.
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