With San Diego’s most anticipated music and arts festival right around the corner, it’s time to bust out the daily schedule and plan your weekend. To help with your strategizing, here is information on how close the stages are to one another and how to get from one to the next. Travel between the stages takes place both on ground AND on water and all part of the experience.
The Wonderfront Music and Arts Festival will have a total of eight stages (actually ten if you count Club Dub and the American Comedy Co. stages), a massive skate ramp for Tony Hawk’s HuckJam, game zones, and plenty more entertainment options. The four main stages include the KUSI Stage and Stella Artois Stage located at Seaport Village, and the Uncle Ed’s D*mn Good Vodka Stage and C3Bank Stage located at Embarcadero Park North. These four stages will house all of the rock, indie, reggae, EDM, and hip-hop genre performances. The latin main stage is located at Hilton Bayfront Park
The best part? The two stages in Seaport Village are located right next to each other, and the same goes for the two stages in Embarcadero Park North. This means if you love EDM and hip-hop music equally, you can catch back-to-back shows without breaking stride in your sweet dance moves. Same goes if you love rock, indie, reggae or jam on the Embarcadero North Park stages.
If you eventually want to expand your musical horizon and venture between the main stages to check out new artists, don’t fret. The maximum travel distance between the four main stages is no more than 1,600 feet. That’s less than a third of a mile. To put that in perspective, the farthest travel point between main stages at some of the other biggest musical festivals (think of Coachella, Austin City Limits, EDC Las Vegas) can be anywhere from 2,350 feet to 4,000 feet. That’s a lot of time spent walking around that you won’t be wasting at Wonderfront Festival.
There’s also a lot to visit outside of the four main stages with plenty of activities and music going on all over the festival grounds that span from the Broadway Port Pier down to the Hilton Bayfront Park. It’s a beautiful along the Promenade right on the waterfront, however, if you’d rather not walk, we also offer additional ways for you to get between these stages. These include old town trolleys, the WonderFRED shuttles, water taxis, and even the Marietta Party Boat which will have live bands and cocktails during each ride. Wonderfront makes moving between stages part of the fun!
You can check out the festival grounds yourself using this interactive map. If you’ve already planned out your festival weekend but still haven’t bought your tickets, now’s the time! You can also look into being a Wonderfront VIP (that is, if those memberships aren’t sold out by the time you read this).
There’s a new festival coming to San Diego that’s unlike anything this city has ever seen and unlike any other festival of its kind. Here are just a few reasons why Wonderfront Festival is different from the rest.
Line-Up
Other Festivals: Talent buyers spend big bucks on a handful of headliners while leaving the rest of the lineup in the dust.
Wonderfront Festival: Our lineup is stacked from top to bottom with relevant, current artists–some established, some emerging, all badass.
Switchin It Up
Other Festivals: Focus on the same style of music.
Wonderfront Festival: We are switching things up and keeping things fresh with a multitude of genres including Hip Hop, EDM, Indie Rock, Latin, Reggae, and a bit of Punk to top things off.
In & Out Privileges
Other Festivals: You enter and you do not exit, ALL. DAY. LONG. Festival fatigue, anxiety and all sorts of side effects are not uncommon with the single-entrance model.
Wonderfront Festival: We give you the power to customize your experience with our festival re-entry policy. Hit up a local bar or restaurant in between sets, catch the ferry to Coronado Island, boat/SUP/kayak on the water, or take a nap at your hotel (which will be only steps away). Go, explore, be free–and then come back for your favorite nighttime act and the silent disco.
Location, Location, Location
Other Festivals: Far away af. Also? Hot af and dusty af.
Wonderfront Festival: You’ll be kickin’ it all weekend long along the glistening waterfront of America’s Finest City, not to mention, minutes away from the bustling downtown, a short Lyft to Little Italy and a 15 minute ferry ride to Coronado. Views for days in the blissful, sunny November San Diego weather.
P.S. Our gates are one mile from the airport with train and trolley stops in walking distance. Bam!
Hamping
Other Festivals: Laying your head down on rocks and dirt after a long day is the most luxurious sleep situation you’re going to get, unless you’ve booked an expensive hotel that is an hour away.
Wonderfront Festival: Chic, comfy hotels (with special Wonderfront package deals) are literally steps away from our festival stages and the downtown after parties. Get some deep zzz’s before going at it again on Day 2 & 3.
All the Things
Other Festivals: You listen to music, see a little art and maybe hang with some cool girls with hula hoops.
Wonderfront Festival: With us, your GA Pass gets you access to all the things; Silent Disco, Giant Sports Bar, The Hideaway, all the game zones, the yacht parties, the water taxis with bars and bands, the comedy, the art exhibits, the lounges. ALL of it. The only extra activities would be the rental of kayaks, SUP boards, wave runners, even speed boats; which will all be offered on festival grounds.
Cruising between Stages
Other Festivals: Walking between stages takes up half of your day, not to mention the sand that gets in your shoes and the blisters that start to form if your shoe selection favors fashion over comfort.
Wonderfront Festival: Getting from stage to stage is part of the experience aboard water taxis with bars and bands, take scooters between the venues, jump on the festival’s Old Town Shuttle tours moving you between the venues, or take our WonderFRED electric buggies. And if you prefer to walk the beautiful promenade, check out the entertainers along the way–it’s all there for you, friends.
Not convinced yet? Read the blog post by Locale Magazine on the 5 Main Reasons You Should Attend Wonderfront Festival.
SAN DIEGO (KUSI) – A highly anticipate music & arts festival is coming to San Diego this November.
One of the festival’s co-founders, Ernie Hahn, told us everything we need to know about the upcoming Wonderfront Music & Arts Festival on Good Morning San Diego.
Wonderfront’s press release announcing the described it as:
3 Days of Music, 70+ Bands, 7+ Stages, Culinary Delights, and Immersive Arts Experiences All Along the Downtown San Diego Waterfront
Tuesday, March 19, 2019 — San Diego, CA — Descending upon the stunning waterfront of downtown San Diego – “where the city meets the sea” – on November 22, 23, and 24, 2019 is THE WONDERFRONT FESTIVAL, the highly-anticipated 7+ stage, 70+ band, 3-day music, culinary, and arts festival.
The brainchild of seasoned industry veterans, Paul Thornton of Tag Presents, and Ernie Hahn current GM and partner at Pechanga Arena, this event has been 8 years in the making and no stone has gone unturned in its launch. The two have more than 50 years combined experience producing events in the live entertainment industry, with deep roots and relationships in the San Diego market.
The festival will feature more than 70 musical acts on 7+ different stages, spread across the various parks and piers along the Port in downtown San Diego, from South Embarcadero up to Broadway Pier. “At most major festivals, they take you out of the city and lock you in,” says Managing Partner, Paul Thornton. “This is a complete flip of that model, where the fans will be immersed in a downtown environment, with the ability to move in and out of the festival venues to dine, shop, take a break at their hotel, visit attractions, all without leaving the festival experience.”
“This festival is going to be three days of energy and fun for residents and visitors alike that will activate our amazing waterfront like never before. It’s going to bring thousands of concertgoers that will fill our hotels, shops and restaurants while they enjoy all that San Diego has to offer,” says San Diego Mayor, Kevin Faulconer.
The musical lineup will be announced around late April with tickets expected to go on sale in early May and will include major mainstream talent, including rock, indie rock, EDM, reggae, hip hop, alternative, country and Americana, popular Latin programming, and emerging breakout artists from all genres.
In addition to a spectacular lineup, the festival will also include many experiences that celebrate a sense of discovery and fun, including music, arts, craft beer tasting, sumptuous culinary experiences, film and other cultural “festivals within a festival.”
“It’s massive. When you’re booking 70 plus bands across 7 or more stages, in addition to all the after parties we’ll be doing downtown, and the element of being on the water, with a water taxi system moving people around with performers and bars on the water, and also yacht parties. It’s so much more than just music and that’s what’s going to make the experience so unique. We will have amazing food and drinks, games and activities, waterfront dining, art installations, street performers and theater groups.
There’s a lot of work to this but the experience is going to be unparalleled,” according to Paul Thornton who has been actively booking top tier and emerging talent for the event.
“This is really special for me because a big part of the Gaslamp Quarter developing was my grandfather and my father with Horton Plaza,” says Managing Partner, Ernie Hahn. “And that really started the development of what we know as downtown to this day. At the end of the day, this is a festival put on by San Diegans for San Diego first. We want to create the best festival in the world that San Diegans love that involves all the genres and represents the makeup of what San Diego is. We’ve locked down the best festival site in the world and plan to deliver an incredible music festival experience unlike any other.”
“Music, art, food and fun connects and inspires us all. The Port of San Diego welcomes the Wonderfront Festival to our dynamic San Diego Bay waterfront, where there’s always something different to discover, experience and enjoy,” says Port of San Diego Chairman Garry Bonelli.
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