The Recap
If you read last week’s newsletter, you know we spent the last six months building a music festival on our property. This week, I’m telling you how it all went.
Here is a full movie of the event, please go watch!
TLDR- It went great.
I want to lead with that, because I spent the better part of this year overthinking every element of it so nothing could go sideways. I am so proud of the performers every band sounded great and I was so impressed with everyone.
The only real hiccup was the wind, which picked up mid-day and once blew over our maker tent. It calmed down by the afternoon and didn’t ruin the vibe. Brad took a wrong turn and got stuck in the sand, but he was the only one who had car trouble.
There was a moment on Saturday night when I was dancing with my sister and my childhood best friend while my husband Riley and all of his best friends performed, and I know it will be a core memory. I am so lucky.
TLDR- It went great.
I want to lead with that, because I spent the better part of this year overthinking every element of it so nothing could go sideways. I am so proud of the performers every band sounded great and I was so impressed with everyone.
The only real hiccup was the wind, which picked up mid-day and once blew over our maker tent. It calmed down by the afternoon and didn’t ruin the vibe. Brad took a wrong turn and got stuck in the sand, but he was the only one who had car trouble.
There was a moment on Saturday night when I was dancing with my sister and my childhood best friend while my husband Riley and all of his best friends performed, and I know it will be a core memory. I am so lucky.
Here’s how the weekend unfolded.
Friday: Arrival
Guests started rolling in around 3pm. We had spent the morning setting up the campsites, staking out the fourteen numbered spots on the map I’d drawn, and putting the printed guidebooks in a stack at the entrance.
Friday night was a full moon and we had a fun little dress rehearsal. This was another lovely night with just our close friends and the set up crew. Shoutout to all the boys I put to work building the tent and setting up sound and so many other elements of the weekend.
Saturday: The Main Event
Saturday was the day everything was built around, and it moved in three parts.
The maker market opened mid-afternoon. My sister set up her jewelry, our friend brought her ceramics, Riley laid out his paintings, and Brad signed CDs for anyone who’d take one.
Lucky Horse Ice Cream (Yazzy and Lily) served custom flavors themed around Joshua Tree.
The block printing station was a hit, Riley helped people arrange the property icons onto tees, bandanas, and anything else we could print on.
The bands started at sunset. The lineup played through golden hour and into dusk, and watching our friends play music as the sun set on our land was a very special experience. Riley closed the night out singing, with all the ladies screaming. He may have a career in show business, haha.
The dancing picked up around 9 and ran until 11, when we cut the sound for the noise ordinance. I’d been mildly anxious about being good neighbors, but we held the hard stop and got no complaints. People drifted back to their campsites, the fire pits kept going, and the rest of the night happened in small clusters under the stars instead of one big crowd.
Sunday: Breakfast and Goodbyes
Sunday was breakfast, coffee, and people packing up. The sun gave everyone a pretty abrupt wake-up call, so we got up early and had it all packed by 11am.
Several people asked when we’re doing it again.
(Answer: we’re thinking about it.)
What I’m taking with me
A few things I want to take away from this:
It’s okay to ask for and accept help. So much of this weekend was built on people offering: to play, to host, to bring something, to point-person a piece of it. I said yes to all of it and the event was better for it. A younger version of me would have tried to do most of this alone, and it would have been worse.
You can do anything with friends that are down. Similar to the above but it’s just amazing when everyone puts their mind to something and collaborates for a greater goal. So proud of us.
Next time. There were a lot of lessons in this one. Truthfully, the weekend was hard on our little house and bathroom and we want to expand some of the spaces before we attempt something like this again next year. Maybe a pergola off the deck, and an additional shed for storage that isn’t in our house. Probably some stricter rules around sandy shoes indoors too.
I underestimated how much sand we’d kick up while dancing!! there was SO MUCH sand. Felt like we were coming home from burning man or something!! Next time we may need a proper dance floor. But all lessons learned and nothing a vacuum can’t fix.
Thank you
To everyone who came out, played, sold, stamped, scooped, set up, broke down, and trusted us with this crazy idea - thank you. Especially to the friends who showed up early and stayed late. You know who you are.
This was the first one. It will not be the last.
If you want to see more please head to our Instagram as we’ll be posting it all.
