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| Reggae on the River | |
|---|---|
| Name | Reggae on the River |
| Location | Humboldt County, California |
| Years active | 1984–2006, 2012–2013, 2016 (intermittent) |
| Founders | Don Carlos, Benny Wenda |
| Genre | Reggae, roots reggae, dub |
Reggae on the River was an annual music festival held in Humboldt County, California, known for presenting reggae artists within a countercultural milieu tied to Northern California festivals and indigenous and activist communities. The event attracted performers associated with Jamaica, Kingston, Jamaica, Bob Marley, Burning Man, Sundance, and West Coast music circuits, becoming a summer destination alongside festivals like Glastonbury Festival, Coachella, and the New Orleans Jazz Festival.
The festival emerged during the 1980s alongside movements centered in Humboldt County, California, San Francisco, Berkeley, and Oakland, California, interacting with artists who had ties to Kingston, Jamaica, Trench Town, and diasporic networks linked to Marcus Garvey and Haile Selassie. Organizers negotiated relationships with regional institutions such as California State Parks, local governments in Eureka, California and Garberville, California, and environmental groups like Sierra Club and Friends of the Eel River, anchoring the festival within debates involving land use and cultural events that also affected festivals like Woodstock and Isle of Wight Festival.
Founders drew on collaborations among musicians, entrepreneurs, and community organizers with connections to Jamaican producers, management teams associated with Island Records, and touring circuits that included Toots and the Maytals, Steel Pulse, and Peter Tosh. Early promoters negotiated contracts referencing venues and labor frameworks similar to arrangements used by Bill Graham and production teams that worked with Live Nation and AEG Presents. The inaugural lineups reflected regional promoters' relationships with agents who represented artists on labels such as Trojan Records and VP Records.
The event primarily took place at riverside sites in Humboldt County, drawing attendees traveling along U.S. Route 101, arriving from hubs like San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, and Portland, Oregon. Venue selection involved coordination with agencies such as California Department of Parks and Recreation and local jurisdictions in Redwood National and State Parks country, with logistical parallels to staging at places used by Monterey Pop Festival and Telluride Bluegrass Festival.
Across its run the festival featured artists including members or associates of Bob Marley, Ziggy Marley, Burning Spear, Black Uhuru, Steel Pulse, Sly and Robbie, Alpha Blondy, Gregory Isaacs, Dennis Brown, Jimmy Cliff, The Gladiators, Max Romeo, Beres Hammond, Shaggy, Buju Banton, and touring bands linked to The Wailers Band. Sets often showcased musicians backed by musicians and producers who had worked at studios like Studio One and Tuff Gong Studios, and occasionally featured cross-genre collaborations with artists associated with Slightly Stoopid, Sublime, No Doubt, and other West Coast acts.
The festival functioned as a node connecting Rastafari cultural practitioners linked to figures like Haile Selassie and Marcus Garvey with activists from environmental networks and local indigenous groups including representatives from Yurok people and Hoopa Valley Tribe. Philanthropic and nonprofit partners mirrored collaborations seen at festivals involving Doctors Without Borders, Amnesty International, and regional food justice organizations, while local vendors included small businesses from Eureka, California and artisan networks that supplied crafts comparable to markets at New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.
The festival's history included disputes over contracts, revenue-sharing, and trademark or name rights involving promoters, landowners, and nonprofit organizations, resembling litigation patterns seen in disputes involving Glastonbury Festival producers and corporate promoters such as Live Nation. Conflicts invoked negotiations with county officials in Humboldt County, California, permitting authorities, and stakeholders who cited environmental regulations tied to agencies like California Coastal Commission and state permitting processes; these disputes at times led to cancellations and litigation that attracted coverage similar to disputes around Fyre Festival and high-profile cancellations at Glastonbury Festival.
After intermittent hiatuses the event inspired revival attempts by promoters, community coalitions, and artists connected to legacy acts like Bob Marley's family, touring managers from Island Records, and activists from regional organizations in Humboldt County, California. Revival efforts paralleled restarts seen with festivals such as Tomorrowland, Isle of Wight Festival, and New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, with organizers negotiating artist bookings, insurance, and local partnerships. The festival's legacy persists in archival materials, oral histories collected by regional historical societies, and continuing influence on reggae programming at West Coast festivals including Sierra Nevada World Music Festival and community events in San Francisco and Oakland, California.