The first-ever Sebastopol Bloom festival comes to town Oct. 24-26
Ready or not, Jonathan Pinkston wants to introduce Sebastopol to the world
People are always talking about the desirability of doing more events in Sebastopol—something to bring attention to downtown, help local businesses, and generally build the reputation of Sebastopol as a destination to visit and explore.
Then, when someone finally does plan a massive event—something that will bring a thousand or more visitors to downtown over three days—some folks around town get nervous: “Where will they park? Where will they camp? Where will they pee? What about traffic? I don’t like tourists!”
Take a long, deep, cleansing breath.
Sebastopol Bloom is a three-day celebration of food, music, art, wellness, and community that will be held on the weekend of Oct. 24-26, from Friday to Sunday. It brings together farm-to-table culture, conscious music, spiritual practice, movement and yoga, and local artisans under the theme of “Embrace Connection.”
It’s being put on by Jonathan Pinkston, one of the owners of Soft Medicine, and Debra Giusti, the founder and long-time organizer of the Harmony Festival in Santa Rosa (now director of the Energy Wave Center in Sebastopol). The organizers of Bhakti Fest—a 10-year-old yoga and spiritual music festival, which is normally held in Joshua Tree—are also involved in Sebastopol Bloom.
Pinkston and Giusti came before the Sebastopol Planning Commission in September to get a Temporary Use Permit to use the empty Depot Street lot across from the downtown plaza as one of the main staging areas for the festival. The planning commission granted them the permit after an hour-long discussion of parking, traffic management, and more.
Workers began taking down the public art in the Depot Street lot this week, and over the next week and a half they’ll be readying it for festival goers.
Pinkston, who has not been shy about his intention of running for the Sebastopol City Council, is eager to see his vision for Sebastopol Bloom unfold in his hometown. “I grew up here, and I’m very stoked to put this event on,” he said.
Giusti is also excited about the event. “I’ve lived in Sebastopol 70 years, since I was one years old. I started the Harmony Festival at 22 and grew it for 33 years. So I know the magic that can happen when community gets together and they share their resources, their creativity, their art, and their community…More than that, it brings resources here.”
Sebastopol Bloom produced a pretty festival map, which we have clarified by outlining the festival’s main stages and performance areas:
The Main Stage at the Sebastopol Community Cultural Center
The Bhakti Stage in Ives Park (yoga and kirtan focus)
The Folk/Rock Center Stage (Depot Street lot)
Workshops and After-Hour Stage Friday through Sunday at Soft Medicine
Pinkston said he’s expecting between 1,000 and 2,000 people to attend the event. (They had 500 sign-ups by the time of the planning commission meeting on Sept. 23.)
“We’re going to cap it at 2,000 for the whole weekend,” Pinkston said. “That doesn’t mean 2,000 people would be at the square. Part of the reason we wanted to split it up is the South by Southwest model—so even though there’s a lot of people in city limits, by dividing it, you don’t have this cluster of everyone trying to park and walk to the same place at the same time.”
“So it’s more akin to Peacetown on steroids, or something a little more culturally relevant, with, like, younger bands,” Pinkston said, with a mischievous smile.
Although Pinkston expects most people to walk around town, there will be shuttles moving between the various venues and the outlying parking areas—the Barlow overflow lot and the Grange. “Our goal is to have at least 60-70% of people parking away from the downtown sector,” Pinkston said.
What’s happening at Sebastopol Bloom?
According to a press release for the festival, “Sebastopol Bloom is designed to engage every part of who we are: our bodies, our minds, and our community.” The emphasis is on music, spirituality and wellness. It’s kind of like Soft Medicine writ large and turned into a city-wide festival.
Sebastopol Bloom features a diverse music lineup across genres, including:
Poranguí – World-fusion, live looping, and deep sound journeys.
Ayla Nereo – Ethereal vocals and poetic folk-electronica.
The Polish Ambassador – Ecstatic bass and electronic grooves.
Marya Stark – Soulful singer-songwriter and visionary folk artist.
DJ Dragonfly— multifaceted artist and DJ
These will be joined by dozens of other well-known and regional performers.
Bhakti Fest will be offering a full devotional experience with daily kirtan, yoga, and workshops led by artists such as DJ Drez and Marti Nikko, Shimshai and Susana, Joss Jaffe, Saul David Raye, Kiranjot, Karnamrita Dasi, and more.
Other features include:
Food and Drink from local chefs and restaurants such as Fern Bar, The Redwood, Goldfinch, Ramen Gaijin, Soft Medicine, Americana, Farmers Wife, plus pop-ups. Local wine, elixirs, and other libations complete the culinary scene.
Wellness, Workshop and Movement offerings: daily yoga classes, dance, talks, soft medicine, spa and bathhouse experiences, workshops and skill-shares.
Art and Shopping: artisan and maker market, sustainable products, art and herbal vendors, artisan goods and hand-goods, clothing, superfoods.
Accommodations: options include camping, glamping, and home stays.
Tickets for the full three-day event are between $220 and $280 per person. There are discounts for seniors ($200) and youth aged 12-19 ($100-$150). A 3-day family ticket costs $300 for two adults and two kids. See full ticket information here.
The broader goals of Sebastopol Bloom
According to a press release for Sebastopol Bloom:
Sebastopol Bloom is more than a festival—it’s community building. All net proceeds will go toward designing and supporting downtown green spaces. One major project is creating a temporary community park/event space at the future site of Hotel Sebastopol (currently in a two-year temporary use phase), which will also become the center stage of Bloom and serve as an ongoing venue for local culture. This initiative is part of a larger vision: stitching together Sebastopol’s Main Street with The Barlow shopping district, increasing public gathering spaces, and bringing more cultural, wellness, and artistic energy into town year-round.
For Jonathan Pinkston, this festival is a chance to change the face (and demographics) of Sebastopol.
“Our main intention with this whole thing is we want more people than us to know that Sebastopol exists, and more young people to move here and open businesses,” he said. “We know that in towns like Austin, Texas, their population blew up when they started having South by Southwest. Of course, that’s a huge event now, but when it started, it was more like this, where you were bringing really interesting people into a cultural center and then certain people stick. That’s really the intention here. We’re not just trying to throw a festival, make some money and have fun. We really want people to come and fill some of these vacant businesses. We need some, quite frankly, high-rolling people from other states and cities that see this as a place that they will anchor. That’s the main intention of the event—to have some lasting, residual economic and cultural impact.”
Sebastopol Bloom will take place from Friday, Oct. 24 through Sunday, Oct. 26. Get tickets now at SebastopolBloom.com.
I'm pro more music and events in town. This is how we attract in visitors, both local and from afar, and gain tax dollars to make the city run and bring in support/wallets for local businesses. Love the distributed model, which by its nature encourages more walking and browsing past storefronts. I am a little concerned when I see a map that shows camping with a fire on it in a place in town that has zero camping options... but that hopefully is not an issue that will actually become a problem. We used to have more festivals in town in the past- the Cajun fest, the big education fundraiser in Ives- so I'm glad to see something new and fresh!
FWIW,
The sculpture exhibition in the Depot Street empty lot was supposed to close on October 31.
The artists, myself among them, had to take the show down early. No one consulted the Sebastopol Center for the Arts before planning the new event.
Public access to the site was planned for Oct 7 that had to be cancelled. Makes Sebastopol look bad, and sloppy.
The artists go through considerable expense to produce artwork and install a show. We need to fit timelines into other plans. Getting short notice that a show is closing early is unprofessional, however no fault of the art center. They were blind sided.