Help me find a music festival this summer

May 27, 2011 2:28 PM

My best friend and I (living in New Brunswick, Canada) want to take a road trip this summer and we were thinking maybe doing a musical festival/camping adventure. Any suggestions for excellent festivals where two young women would be safe and have an amazing time?

We'll be driving but don't want to drive an insane amount so we're thinking north east Canada and United States. For cost reasons we'd prefer to spend the time camping instead of hotels, so preference given to events with camping as part of it or at least near by.

We don't like country music, but love rock, bluegrass, jazz, and folk. We would also be interested in any other types of experiences you think might work.

posted by gwenlister to media & arts (12 answers total)

I have heard very very good things about the Evolve festival, which is somewhere nearby-ish (I think within about 5 hours of me, I'm in Fredericton). But I'm not sure about the music, I think it might be a bit different than you're looking for. You'll have to check that yourself. But friends have been, and the vibe is apparently very hippy/Burning Man-ish.

Montreal has Osheaga and a great lineup in...July?. I'm not sure exactly when, and I *think* they have camping.
posted by Lemurrhea at 2:51 PM on May 27, 2011

Ha! I'm in Fredericton too. Small world. :)
I forgot about Evolve! Thanks for the reminder.
posted by gwenlister at 3:01 PM on May 27, 2011

What about the Newport Folk Festival? It's in Rhode Island, July 30-31st.

There's no camping on site but under the event info it has some info about nearby campgrounds.
posted by lurking_girl at 3:36 PM on May 27, 2011

The American Folk Festival on August 26, 27, & 28 in Bangor, Maine seems to fit what you are looking for.

And The Paul Bunyan Campground is in the immediate area (but you should definitely make reservations there ahead of time.)
posted by Grlnxtdr at 3:45 PM on May 27, 2011

My family enjoys Shelter Valley every year.
It has good camping, amazing food and the porta-pots are cleaned twice daily.
There are workshops during the day, amazing music in the evening and for people who like to jam around a camp fire there are 2 fires where people play till the wee hours.

It's all run by volunteers!

Worth a stop if you are coming this way.
posted by Ignorance at 4:51 PM on May 27, 2011

The Wolfe Island Music Festival on August 5 & 6 in Kingston has a great (IMHO) lineup this year. Camping space adjacent to the festival grounds is very limited, but very cheap.
posted by thisjax at 5:07 PM on May 27, 2011

Seconding the Wolfe Island festival. It's amazing and small, your ticket includes camping on the festival grounds, and the music and the food are great. The downside to camping there is that there is no running water. If you are not into camping, you can stay in the Queen's dorms which are not too expensive. Kingston is a little far from Fredericton, but if you time your trip right you could maybe also hit up Osheaga in Montreal on the way.
posted by kyla at 9:11 PM on May 27, 2011

It's further away (in the Berkshires in New York State), but the Falcon Ridge Folk Fest is also small and lovely, and there's camping on the festival grounds.

Newport is an amazing folk festival (I'll be there this year!), but book your accommodations early, evening for campgrounds.

Here's a list of folk festivals in New England.
posted by bassjump at 9:29 PM on May 27, 2011

my friend is going to Larryfest in Wisconsin in August. I have no idea if it's any good, but she's excited.

Of course there's always Bonnaroo down here in Tennessee, but that might be a longer drive than you want.
posted by thinkingwoman at 10:03 PM on May 27, 2011

not music, but Burlington, Vermont, has an annual beer fest in July. There is some music, and Burlington's a cool town--we were walking back from dinner one night and a bunch of guys were on their front porch playing bluegrass, so we sat and listened for a while. It's such a crunchy town that I would be shocked if there wasn't some gorgeous camping nearby (or some neat couchsurfing opportunities if you're into that.)
posted by thinkingwoman at 10:08 PM on May 27, 2011

If you can make it to Massachusetts, you could also check out the Wilco Solid Sound Festival in North Adams, in late June.
posted by melvinwang at 2:29 AM on May 28, 2011

Lowell Folk Festival in Lowell, MA is July 29-31. All events are free. It's an urban setting, so you'll have to drive a few miles to camping. Here's one campground not too far away. Here's another, closer one.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 4:26 AM on May 28, 2011