High Sierra Music Festival has announced a new ambassador program mere days after founder Roy Carter’s passing.
The festival landscape is looking a little more bleak in 2024. Gatherings like Imagine Music Festival, Sunset Music Festival, and Backwoods at Mulberry Mountain are but a few to cancel events this year in light of shifts in the live music market. Something’s gotta give, or else NorCal staple High Sierra Music Festival will apparently join the list in 2025.
The organizers of the four-day event set to return to Quincy, California from June 4-7 did not mince words in a recent statement on the challenges facing them. “As we navigate the post-COVID world, we find ourselves facing a new economic reality that threatens the future of High Sierra Music Festival,” it reads. “While we are committed to presenting this year’s festival in its familiar form, there will likely be significant changes in 2025.”
The statement then segues into a call to action. It strongly encourages previous attendees who “cherish High Sierra” to “consider joining us this year to ensure its survival and evolution.” It declares, “the High Sierra you know today must change if it’s going to endure.”
To incentivize this, High Sierra’s organizers have introduced an ambassador program that offers rewards for fans who help them increase this year’s attendance. Each one gets their own dedicated URL, earning points for every ticket purchased via that link that can be cashed in for tickets, merch, upgrades, and packages that include meet-and-greets.
High Sierra Music Festival first took place in 1991 and has billed jam bands as well as bluegrass and folk acts such as Leftover Salmon, Sam Bush, and Yonder Mountain String Band. Most editions have also featured electronic music such as Sound Tribe Sector 9, Beats Antique, Thievery Corporation, or — in this year’s case — The Polish Ambassador.
On Monday, High Sierra founder and talent buyer Roy Carter passed away at age 68. In addition to promoting events, he has contributed greatly to the sustainability initiatives surrounding live music, which Relix notes have remained in practice at the festival to this day.
Whether or not High Sierra continues on in 2025 and beyond, it’s hard to deny that the North American festival ecosystem’s sad outlook. All good things must come to an end, however, and change can turn out to be a good thing in time.
