Where the Funk Will Live: A First Look at the Grounds
If you caught the preview we posted on Instagram, you already got a taste of it. Here's a closer look at the place itself.
This August, the 1st Annual Down To Funk Festival is heading to YMCA Camp Jones Gulch, tucked into the Santa Cruz Mountains in La Honda, California — less than an hour from the Bay, but a world away from it. The property spans 927 acres of redwood forest and open meadow, and we can't wait for you to feel what we felt the first time we walked it: less like a festival site, more like the best summer camp you never went to as a kid.
That's exactly the vibe we're building toward. DTFF is shaping up around an adult-friendly summer camp feel, on purpose — communal meals, cabin lodging, shared spaces where the person next to you at dinner is dancing next to you a few hours later. Music is the excuse. Community is the actual thing.
Here's what you can expect on the ground. The Madrone Dining Hall will double as our Get Down Stage — meals and sets in the same room, because why separate them. Vendor Village will keep food and merch flowing all weekend. Cabins will be split across North Tolowa, South Tolowa, and Ohlone Village, each with its own energy depending on who ends up bunking together. We'll have parking spread across the Tolowa Ball Field for dry RVs and trailers and the Coyote Bowl for everything else, with shuttles and pedi-cabs running the whole weekend so nobody has to think twice about getting from their cabin to the stage.
We're deep in the work behind the scenes right now — lineup, schedule, all of it coming together. There's a lot more to share, and we will, soon.
For now: 927 acres, one weekend, no distance between the music and the people who came for it.
Stay tuned.
Where the funk? Check out the venue in this video, and stop by the local businesses while you’re there.
