The High Sierra Music Festival is experiencing record-low ticket sales, which could make or break the long-standing event. (Ryan Salm / Courtesy of High Sierra Music Festival)

Every year on the Fourth of July weekend, thousands of music fans descend on the small town of Quincy for the High Sierra Music Festival. The town is located in the American Valley, surrounded by pastureland and rolling, forested mountains of the Lost Sierra. The festival takes place at the fairgrounds, where fans set up elaborate camps and dozens of bands play on multiple stages from midday until the late, late hours of the starry night.

Going into its 33rd year, High Sierra has long cemented itself as a widely loved gathering among fans of rootsy music and jam bands, but hard times and financial losses have pushed the festival to its limits. After three down years of sluggish ticket sales and financial hits, this year landed with another blow: the lowest ticket sales in the festival's history, said co-owner and producer Dave Margulies.

Two weeks before the festival, Margulies was considering whether he should cancel it entirely. He called a staff meeting to talk about the event's options. "We could have walked away and lost X amount of dollars. Or we could roll the dice and go forward and potentially lose more. Or we could close the gap and lose less if the community rallies," Margulies told SFGATE.

High Sierra decided to bet on their ties to music fans and longtime attendees, moving forward with the event and making a huge push for last-minute ticket sales with discounts and word-of-mouth pleas for help. The success of this push will either make or break the future of the storied music festival.

"I was not ready to let this beloved, long-standing festival just die on the vine like that. So I gave it a shot for this year," Margulies said.

The High Sierra Music Festival is experiencing record-low ticket sales, which could make or break the long-standing event. (Gabriel David Barkin / Courtesy of High Sierra Music Festival)

High Sierra got its start in 1991. Margulies was living in the Bay Area when he drove the four hours to Quincy to go to the festival for the first time in 1992. He worked in the music industry as a talent scout and knew the festival's founder Roy Carter. Margulies said he'd see Carter passing out flyers for High Sierra in front of well-known San Francisco venues, like the Great American Music Hall. A few years later, Margulies offered to work with Carter. They had their first business meeting at a Whole Foods in Berkeley in 1995, then Margulies came on board and started producing the festival.

Throughout the 1990s, the aughts and the 2010s, High Sierra seemed to be untouchable. Every year, the festival easily sold about 6,000 tickets. The lineup was stacked with talent. Past headliners include Trey Anastasio, the String Cheese Incident, Dawes, Thievery Corporation, Lauryn Hill and Widespread Panic.

Then, the pandemic shut down the festival. For two years, High Sierra went dark, and since its return in 2022, the event has struggled to regain its footing, seeing a 30% drop in ticket sales. "We just never really bounced back to pre-pandemic levels with attendance," Margulies said, adding: "We lost a good bit of money."

High Sierra isn't alone. Music festivals across California have been forced to cancel or fold entirely. Another Plumas County festival, the Sunset Campout, announced this year would be the last after a 16-year run. Some festivals are still holding on, even growing, out of a belief that people need more opportunities to gather with likeminded community, disconnect from devices and listen to music in the woods. Where High Sierra lands in this uncertain time remains to be seen.

The High Sierra Music Festival is experiencing record-low ticket sales, which could make or break the long-standing event. (Susan J. Wieand / Courtesy of High Sierra Music Festival)

Margulies has a lot of theories about why the industry is sluggish. "It's the state of the world and also the uncertainty of the economy. I think there's also a lot of competing events that are pulling money out of the discretionary income pool for fans," he said.

Many High Sierra attendees are also fans of the Grateful Dead and Phish. Dead and Company recently did a run at the Sphere in Las Vegas and just announced three shows in Golden Gate Park to celebrate 60 years of the Grateful Dead. Tickets are sold out. Phish is usually on the East Coast for the Fourth of July, Margulies said, but this year for the holiday, they're playing in Boulder. "I have personal friends that say to me, ‘Love you buddy. Would love to be at High Sierra, but I'm going to see Phish,'" Margulies said.

After several years of financial losses, Margulies decided the festival needed to stay budget-conscious this year. He didn't book an expensive marquee act, instead filling the lineup with what he describes as "High Sierra family acts."

"Bands that are in our wheelhouse," he said. And while this year's lineup will see favorites like ALO and Molly Tuttle, Margulies admitted there is no big name to incentivize people to drive four hours from the Bay Area. On Reddit, some High Sierra attendees also mentioned this year's lineup didn't justify spending more than $400 on a three-day pass. The bands that are going to be at this year's festival include Lyrics Born, Andy Frasco & the U.N., Bamba Wassoulou Groove, Boombox, Whiskerman, John Craigie and the Everyone Orchestra. The latter is conducted by Matt Butler, who pulls musicians from other plans to play an improv set together.

Some challenges have hit closer to home for the festival. Last year, festival founder Carter died, and other partners have stepped away since the pandemic.

The High Sierra Music Festival is experiencing record-low ticket sales, which could make or break the long-standing event. (Michael Pegram / Courtesy of High Sierra Music Festival)

But High Sierra has always had a loyal following - and that's who Margulies hopes will show up to save the festival. With a week to go before the festival, High Sierra has been leaning hard on word-of-mouth and grassroots marketing, distributing discount codes for tickets through bands and sending street teams out to hang up flyers.

"It would probably be the end of the festival if we canceled it," Margulies said. "I don't know if we'd be able to recover and come back and do this again. And we want to do this again, so we put our faith in the community."

Margulies said the needle is moving - last-minute ticket sales are picking up. He hopes it will be enough to give High Sierra another year.

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