Festivarians do HSB in style

More and more, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass is becoming a national festival, with attendees coming to San Francisco from all over to enjoy this world-class event. One example is the big contingent of Telluride Bluegrass Festival goers, members of the Festivarian email list, for whom the San Francisco trip is becoming an annual tradition.

For the last several years, the group has gotten organized about it, camping together at a nearby group campsite, sharing a charter bus between the festival and campground, laying out a group tarp at each stage, and providing full meals at the camp and refreshments at the festival. This year, 60 festivarians took part, many from Colorado but including others from around the U.S., which was all that could be accommodated given the bus capacity.


I visited the group's Run-a-Muck campground after the festival on Sunday night, after agreeing not to disclose the location of the camp. Other than the secrecy, the group was having a good old time the night after the festival closed--with a rib-sticking catered dinner, roaring campfire, music jam, adult beverages and more. Overseeing the procedings, the group's mascot, DukTape Man, was carried back and forth to the festival and passed around the campfire.

One of the campers, Jen Moran, filled me in on DukTape's history. He was born during a rainstorm at the 2003 Telluride Bluegrass Festival, when his "maker" Mark Gibson was playing with a roll of tape. But far more than an inanimate object, DukTape Man has taken on a life of his own, returning to five TBFs since then and hitting the festival circuit this fall for events in Colorado, Arizona and now San Francisco.

I was able to snap a few photos of DukTape Man as we sat around the campfire Sunday night and 60 Festivarians partied late into the night to close out their most excellent road trip.