Sweet tunes engulfed Golden Gate Park as San Franciscans brought their picnic blankets and chairs to lounge in the grass at the annual Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival. Young children rolled down grass hills while bubbles floated behind them and laughter filled the air. Festival goers danced barefoot in the meadow as they watched their favorite artist perform. From Oct. 3 to 5, the Hellman Foundation hosted the festival in Hellman’s Hollow. The free festival celebrated its 25th year with featured artists Courtney Barnett, Lucinda Williams and Steve Earle. Barnett provided an interactive experience, connecting with crowd members and captivating them with her authentic sound. Cass McCombs lured onlookers in with his poetic lyrics and indie rock tunes. The free event had record numbers, with over 750,000 attendees through this spectacular gift to San Francisco.
The festival came from the mind of Warren Hellman, a San Francisco investment banker with a love for bluegrass, who wanted to create a space for his favorite artists to play and provide a gift to the city. Hellman funded and founded the entire festival, and since his passing in 2011 his legacy lives on with the foundation and his children. The festival continues to keep his gift to the city alive each year, and in 2011 the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Commission changed the location name of the festival to “Hellmans Hollow” in his honor.
The beloved festival keeps people coming each year to enjoy the music, nature and community. “I have been coming since the first one when there was hardly anyone here,” Jane Hartmann said. Long time festival fans like Hartmann have seen the evolution of the festival. “It is bigger and there’s more structure and bigger artists, so that is more fun,” she said . Over the years Hardly Strictly has showcased artists from iconic country singer Dolly Parton to rock band Cheap Trick.
Couple Natalie Pellolio and Pancho Morris said they have been coming to the festival for almost 20 years. “We fell in love here. We both used to come here independently, and then we found out that we had a bunch of the same friends, so we all ended up on the same blanket. So that’s my favorite memory here,” Morris said. The festival brought together the community with the crowd full of families and friends of all ages.
Hardly Strictly began with showcasing only bluegrass, but has grown to incorporate other genres while still maintaining the same safe, inviting environment it has always had. “The community and the diversity of all the different music and seeing everybody come together for a free event like this, it’s just an amazing thing for, I think, the whole community and all the people,” Matthew Defer said.
Golden Gate Park provides the perfect setting with grass for viewers to have picnics full of treats from local food trucks Cochinita, Kabob Trolley and Coffee Tree while they enjoy the music surrounded by trees. “We were talking on our way here about how we get to be in the trees, we get to listen to music, it is a beautiful day. October is always great in the city. We get to listen to good music and see people and dance,” Hartmann said. The weekend brought sunshine and the perfect environment for festival goers to enjoy this beloved event.
Hardly Strictly showcases the beauty and diverse ecological environment San Francisco has to offer. “It is beautiful. That was really my first impression, San Francisco is beautiful,” first time festival goer Lori Hyanes said. Providing free access to large artists with a welcoming atmosphere and breathtaking backdrop is a rare opportunity the city is lucky to experience each year. “It’s one of the things that I think still makes San Francisco great,” Morris said.
