A new Reggae music festival originally planned for Folsom is now moving to Orangevale. The Folsom Flower Festival, schedule for April 20 at Folsom’s Rodeo Park, will now take place at the Orangevale Grange, according to a media release on Monday from the Friends of Folsom, organizers of the event.
According the Friends of Folsom President Jeff Garcia, new conditions he was presented with from the City of Folsom have, “made it impossible to keep this Friends of Folsom event in Folsom,” he told Folsom Times.
“We have ten bands and dozens vendors already signed with us, this was going to be an event like Folsom had never seen and unfortunately it won’t be something Folsom will ever see, at least not in Folsom,” said Garcia. “The good news is, we have secured a location in neighboring Orangevale that has welcomed us and this event.”
According to Garcia, the event will go on as planned with all of the bands, vendors, craft beers, food trucks and more. It will just be taking place at the Orangevale site. Everything they have planned and promoted over the last several months will remain the same, the only change is the venue location.
Garcia said he has been working with the City of Folsom regarding new conditions he was presented with that made continuing the event fiscally impossible for his non-profit organization to absorb.
“We applied to use Rodeo Park back in February of last year and in August of last year we were granted permission from the city,” Garcia explained. “Last month we learned we may no longer have permission to use the facility and that the city was having an Earth Day event.”
After heavily promoting the event over the last several months, Garcia asked city officials if they could reconsider and find a way to work together on both events. With the strong interest and ticket sales underway, Garcia wanted to find a way to keep it in Folsom on the original date and in the community his organization serves the most.
“They re-granted our request in mid-March but it came with new conditions,” said Garcia, who was trying to make it work up until today. “It included upwards of $15,000 in fees and costs based on an engineered parking and traffic plan, new fees to park cars in the rodeo park basin and more. They wanted the full list of bands and vendors now, which I feel was to scrutinize us, either way we got priced out to the point it became impossible to keep this event in Folsom but the show will go on in Orangevale and it will be great for the community, we’ve worked hard on this.”
The Folsom Flower Festival cites itself as being “Good vibes, good music and good people,” together for a day that will also feature craft beers, food trucks, vendors and more. The event takes place from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. with nearly a dozen different musical talents performing, providing a non-stop flow of reggae music by some of the area’s best known bands.
According to Friends of Folsom President Jeff Garcia, bands they have signed for the affair already include Pato Banton, Arden Park Roots, Island of Black and White, Eazy Dub, Cali Beach Boy, Skinny Hendrix, Ryder Thieves, the Bennies and more.
In addition to the music festival, the Friends of Folsom will also be hosting its annual “Fools Games” fundraiser on grounds in Orangevale. This event takes place each year to raise funds for the Friends of Folsom’s annual turkey drive and other causes they support. It’s a day in which they compete in what you could best describe as makeshift Olympics with activities that have ranged from traditional cornhole, putting contests, ping pong ball tosses, table games and more.
Friends of Folsom is known around town for its various fundraising events, not just during the holiday season but year round, as they raise money for a number of local charitable causes, many of which surround the holiday season, such as the turkey drive they are best known for. They are also a big part of the annual Hangtown Motocross at Prairie City each year, helping to prepare the course and facility for racers and fans, manage parking and more, all of which they earn a portion of the proceeds for, to apply to their local charitable causes.
From all the fundraisers they plan and organize, Friends of Folsom puts the proceeds back into the community in a variety of ways to help those in need. They help many other charities locally that help with the homeless situation, hunger, underprivileged children, housing and more.
Even with the venue change, the Flower Festival will take place from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. on April 20 at the Orangevale Grange, 5807 Walnut Avenue in Orangevale. Admission tickets are $42 for the event and are available for purchase online at www.friendsoffolsom.org or by CLICKING HERE to go directly to the ticket sale page. Additional information about the event can be found at both locations.
As for the Fools Games event, it will be limited to a total of 24 teams for those wishing to compete and will soon be sold out. For those wishing to learn more about this visit the event page HERE
Top photo: Popular Reggae artist Pato Banton will headline a list of bands at the April 20 Flower Festival presented by the Friends of Folsom
