SF’s Free Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival Returns To Golden Gate Park This Fall
The massively popular free festival will return for the first time in 3 years from September 30 - October 2.
San Francisco’s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival has announced its official in-person return for 2022! The free festival will happen in Golden Gate Park from September 30 through October 2.
The festival has yet to release a lineup announcement, but we can expect the first round of artist medleys on July 26. Guests are encouraged to download the HSB22 app for announcements, lineup updates, Spotify playlists, maps of the stages, artist photos and bios, and more as it becomes available.
In its 2019 rendition, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass hosted performers including Robert Plant & The Sensational Space Shifters, Steve Earle & The Dukes, Liz Cooper & The Stampede, Margo Price, and Fantastic Negrito. Frequent returning performers include Emmylou Harris, Dry Branch Fire Squad, and Gillian Welch.
Guests can enjoy over 50 on-site food and drink vendors or bring their own picnics. Alcohol is not sold at the festival but you are allowed to bring your own. The free event brings up to 750,000 people over the course of 3 days, so be sure to arrive early and follow all park safety precautions.
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass dates back to 2001, when SF venture capitalist Warren Hellman founded it as “Strictly Bluegrass.” As such, it was originally a bluegrass-only event but has since evolved to encompass a multitude of genres, hence the decision to add “Hardly” to its name in 2004. Throughout its run, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass has remained completely free and noncommercial at the bequest of Hellman, who passed away in 2011.
Keep up to date with Hardly Strictly Bluegrass via their website, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and HSB22 app.
Featured image: Eddie Hernandez via Shutterstock