Northern California bluegrass musicians will descend on San Benito County once again this August, but they’ll do so down the road from their prior home at Bolado Park where they’ve held an annual festival since its inception 22 years ago.
The Northern California Bluegrass Festival has been at Bolado Park since it started in 1994 but will move for the first time up the road on Airline Highway to the San Benito County Historical Park. That is where the local historical society built a new stage to accommodate bluegrass players and others who might want to use it throughout the year. This year’s festival is set for Aug. 11 to Aug. 14.
Northern California Bluegrass Society President Michael Hall mentioned how it became “more costly” to host the festival at Bolado and how the fairgrounds operators were “looking for much larger events.” Hall was excited about a new stage put in at the Historic Park.
Since the San Benito County Historic Park hadn’t been set up to handle such an event, the San Benito County Historical Society put in the stage and expanded electrical capacity, Hall said.
He believes it’s a great match due to the setting and type of music played.
“We’re enjoying the fact we’ll have people who are able to sit around on the front porches of the historic buildings and play their music,” Hall said.
Historic Park caretaker Don Pidd said the goal of the historical society is to create a town square setting. He said back in the 1800s, the town square was “really the focal point” of a community.
“We want to recreate that atmosphere from our village here,” Pidd said, adding the local nonprofit group would like to see more music at the park throughout the year outside of the bluegrass jam sessions.
Hall called the new venue a “great place” for what the bluegrass group does at its festival.
“We were glad that we didn’t leave San Benito County,” Hall said. “We looked at a whole bunch of venues and ended up moving next door.”
