The very first Strawberry Music Festival took place over Labor Day weekend in 1982 at Leland Meadows, located near the town of Strawberry. Although we knew the Leland Meadows location wouldn’t work again in the future, the first festival was extremely successful and we hoped to entice the crowd back once we found our new festival home. The following year, 1983, Strawberry moved to its current location, Camp Mather, a site of unprecedented grandeur which borders Yosemite National Park. We kept the name “Strawberry” because folks really seemed to like the name and we hoped to build on the reputation we established at our first event.

Although music at the early festivals was mostly bluegrass, over the years the lineups evolved to include a diverse selection of sounds from around the world. At Strawberry you’ll hear blues and bluegrass, folk, Celtic, Cajun, gospel, rock, roots, reggae, traditional music of the world and more. No two festivals are alike in terms of the music you will enjoy. Strawberry has a terrific reputation for booking established, well-recognized performers as well as exciting new up-and-comers that are breaking through on the national stage.

Most definitely! Strawberry is a wonderful place to bring your entire family. We are often told there is a spirit of family fun at Strawberry that is difficult to find anywhere else. We offer an exceptional kids program with a variety of activities for all age groups. Activities for children are centered at Birch Lake and include arts and crafts, storytelling, music performances, a children’s parade, nature oriented activities, swimming at the lake and so much more. There are also adult activities at the lake which include movement, photography and painting workshops, nature hikes, dance and music programs and more. In addition, the grounds of Camp Mather also include tennis and basketball courts, a swimming pool (open at the Labor Day Festival only) and a horse back riding concession (also open at Labor Day only). It is quite common to find three generations of families enjoying the festivals together.

Strawberry maintains a lease with the City of San Francisco for the use of Camp Mather. The lease clearly outlines the limits on the amount of tickets Strawberry sells to each event. We sell a maximum of 4050 adult camping tickets (ages 13 and over), a very small amount of one-day tickets (up to 250) and somewhere in the neighborhood of 900 children’s tickets. Camping is first-come, first-served and we guarantee a camping spot will be available for every ticket sold.

Yes. Strawberry offers a very limited number of one-day tickets. These tickets are only available by calling the office at 209-984-8630, M-F, 9-5. Adult Day Tickets are not available at the festival gate and tend to sell out earlier than camping tickets. The one-day ticket will allow you admittance from 8:00am on the day you choose to come until the last main stage performance of the evening has ended. You will be required to park your vehicle in the designated “day parking” area and you will be given a wristband identifying you as a “one-day” festival attendee.

Generally, cell phones do not work in the camp or in the surrounding region due to the remoteness of the area. However, some festival folks have driven off-site to various locations and succeeded in locating a cell phone connection at different spots on the road. Under normal conditions there are three pay phones available for public use at Camp Mather. The pay phones are located near the Command Post and tend to have long lines. There is a 5 minute limit on the pay phones. It is also important to be aware that under rare circumstances the mountain conditions that make this site so appealing have disrupted telephone service to the camp.

The Strawberry office turns its phones over to its answering service at 12:00 noon on the Tuesday prior to the festival. The answering service takes all incoming calls throughout the festival and transmits them to the staff at the festival on a regular schedule each day. The emergency phone number is the same as the office phone number, 209-984-8630. In all but the rarest of circumstances your emergency call will reach Camp Mather very quickly. (Past exceptions have included lightning strikes and a fire in the surrounding area which destroyed the phone lines.) When your emergency call arrives at camp, festival security will make every effort to find you. If you believe you may receive an emergency call while you are at the festival, please notify the security staff at the Command Post of the location of your camp as soon as you arrive at Camp Mather.

The festivals are disabled accessible. If you are disabled and require assistance locating a camping spot, hooking up a breathing machine, charging wheelchairs, etc., please call the office at 209-984-8630 prior to the festival for advanced assistance. Please note that while there are certain services Strawberry can provide to make your visit to the festival a comfortable one, we are unable to provide on-site transportation.

In addition to the many potable water spigots around camp, there is bottled water for sale at the Drink Booth, Preserves and Mather General Store.

Yes. 7lb. bags of ice are available for purchase at the Drink Booth, Preserves and Mather General Store throughout the festival.

There are several permanent restroom facilities (with showers) scattered throughout camp. In addition to the bathhouses there are port-a-potties located in outlying and densely populated areas of the festival. Planning ahead and taking the respectful 3 minute “Strawberry Shower” can ensure that everyone gets a hot shower.

Yes. Outside of the Concessions area near the entrance to the Music Meadow is the Medical Tent. Medical staff is available to help with basic first aid needs from Thursday through Sunday during the festival. Hours of operation of the Medical Tent are 8:00am each morning until the music ends on the main stage each evening. When the Med Tent is closed, 24-hour emergency assistance is available at the Security Command Post. In the event of an emergency, paramedics are onsite and an ambulance can be dispatched immediately. In severe cases, medi-flight may respond. The nearest hospital is in Sonora, which is roughly 30 miles away. In addition, there is a medical clinic in Yosemite National Park which is open 24- hours a day. It is important to note that anyone with a pre-existing medical condition must bring their own medication as well as check with their personal physician for information on altitude issues.

Yes, there is meadow parking available for large RVs and Trailers and some of the smaller vehicles will fit in the other areas of camp. There is staff available to help you find a place to park your vehicle, just ask security at the Command Post to call for parking assistance. There are no RV hookups available and generators are not allowed at the festival.

If you have never been to the festival you will likely have many questions about camping at Strawberry. Here are some things to think about: Do you have children? Would you like to camp in more of a quiet/family area? Are you an all-night jammer who would like to be in the thick of things? Would you prefer to be in an area near the lake, or is a location close to a bathroom your priority? Do you have an RV? Answers to these questions, as well as many more, will determine the right camping spot for you.

Before the festival there are many resources available to help you select where you’d like to pitch your tent. A number of different sized maps of Camp Mather are available on the Orientation page of the website. Also, feel free to ask camping questions of old-timers on the unofficial message board linked to this website; you’ll get tons of helpful input there. We also encourage you to call the Strawberry office and ask us everything your heart desires about camping life at the festival. The office is open Monday through Friday, 9am – 5pm, at 209-984-8630. Eager Strawberry Staff are sitting by the phone awaiting your call, but if you ask for Jodi we guarantee you’ll know everything she does about the camping scene.

Once you arrive at the festival we will have specially designated staff available to help you locate your camp site. To access on-site camping assistance, please notify either a gate staff representative with a walkie-talkie radio, or a staff member at the Security Command Post (located across from the Mather General Store).

Finally, there’s no need to hurry in early when the gates open on Thursday, there are plenty of great camping sites available for everyone. Campers new to the Strawberry experience may find it more relaxing to roll in sometime after 10:00am on Thursday morning in order to have a more leisurely look around.

Camp Mather is equipped with a large dining facility where breakfast is served Friday through Monday morning, 7:00am to 11:00am. In addition to a great menu, the Breakfast Club offers adventurous festival goers an opportunity to perform on the dining hall stage in exchange for their breakfast. While you are singing and playing your heart out less daring festival goers sit in the audience and enjoy their own breakfast. Always memorable, Hog Ranch Radio broadcasts these “live” shows throughout camp. Sign ups for the Breakfast Club take place at Hog Ranch Radio tent the preceding afternoon (for example sign-ups for the Saturday morning Breakfast Club take place at Hog Radio on Friday).

Sunday morning at 9:00 am the Revival takes place on the Birch Lake lawn. Set amidst the birch trees, positioned on the edge of the lake, the Revival is non-religious yet spiritual in nature. A mixture of spoken word and thought provoking performances, it is a popular celebration of the human spirit.

Amy’s Orchid Café is an after-hours live music show which begins at 11:00pm on Friday and Saturday evenings. The Camp Mather Dining Hall is transformed into a lovely club-like venue where audience members have the opportunity to enjoy favorite main stage performers in a very intimate setting. While the music varies from festival to festival, one night of the Café will feature a dance band for the entire evening and the other nights’ performance will showcase two different acts. Past performers have included Rodney Crowell, The Avett Brothers, Dry Branch Fire Squad, Trombone Shorty, The Knitters, Hayes Carll, Chic Gamine, Tony Furtado, John Cowan, Chuck Prophett…the list goes on and on. Tickets for Amy’s Orchid Café are sold separately and go on sale at 10:00am at the Information Booth on the morning of the show. The Café was named for the lovely Amy Airhart, the original host of Amy’s Orchid Café.

Held at 1:00 pm on Thursday at the Amphitheater, the Band Scramble is the first live music of the festival to be broadcast on The Hog. Sign-ups take place 12:00 noon on Thursday at the Amphitheater stage. Hosted by Cactus Bob and the Prairie Flower all you musicians are invited to bring your instrument and be randomly blended into a newly created band for a few hours. If you’re game, your task is simple: Come up with a band name, learn 2 songs and a joke and create a Hog Radio ID in one hour. Then, after the hour of practice is up, it’s a live show on the radio! The new bands play in random order and the champion is chosen by the audience response. It’s a fun event to see live, and it makes a great warm-up for those who are still setting up camps!

A Workshop is a one-hour performance given by a Main Stage performer or group of performers. Workshops take place on the Amphitheater Stage (located across from the General Store) in a small, intimate setting. The format of each workshop is determined by the performers themselves. Some workshop performers will put on a show; others may teach techniques and perform. It is not uncommon for Workshop artists to even take questions from the audience. Because there is typically an abundance of spontaneity at Workshops, festival goers consider these shows a real treat.

Please refer to the Strawberry Stroll page of the website for Stroll information.

Sid Lewis and friends teach string players the fine art of jamming. Classes are held at Birch Lake beginning 10:00 am on Friday and Saturday mornings and 11:00 am (after the Revival) on Sunday. No matter what level you are playing at Jamming 101 classes are open to EVERYONE!