By Priya Hutner
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“The Lost Sierra Hoedown offers diverse live music that includes bluegrass, folk, country and Americana.”
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Courtesy Lost Sierra Hoedown
Sept. 24-27 | Plumas Eureka State Park | Graeagle
$100 includes camping
What exactly is a hoedown? One definition: a community dancing party accompanied by lively, hillbilly tunes played on the fiddle.
Lost Sierra Hoedown founder Azariah Reynolds grew up learning to ski at the Johnsville Ski Bowl until the door closed in 1996.
“The state park and the ski area became a ghost town,” Reynolds said as he returns to his roots to bring the Lost Sierra Hoedown to the Plumas Eureka State Park from Sept. 24 to 27.
It was some 10 years after the closing of the ski bowl that Reynolds was visiting the area and experienced an overwhelming sense of nostalgia. He’d spent numerous years in the music industry after graduating college and said that he thought that the Johnsville Ski Bowl would be a great venue for a music festival. There were a few problems with his idea; the lack of infrastructure being one of the biggest.
It was soon after his epiphany that Reynolds met Drew Fisher, who at the time was a student at Sierra Nevada College. He took Fisher and another friend to the bowl and skinned to the top, as he passed the lodge he mentioned his idea of hosting a Bluegrass festival at the site. Fisher, who grew up not far from the area asked, “Why don’t you do it?”
Three months later, Fisher contacted Reynolds. He needed to complete an internship with a nonprofit to graduate and wanted to work with him on the festival idea. Reynolds reached out to the Johnsville Historic Ski Bowl, Eastern Plumas Recreation District, Plumas Ski Club and Plumas Eureka State Park Association.
“They all loved the idea. So Drew and I put together a format and an awesome team,” Reynolds said. And, the Lost Sierra Hoedown was born.
The original goal of the festival was to raise funds to refurbish the ski bowl and open it to the community.
“My mom worked at Johnsville most of my childhood and for the mountain kids here, Tahoe is an hour away, we thought it would be great for young folks to have a place nearby to ski,” Reynolds explained.
Fisher and Reynolds forged a partnership and now in its third year, The Lost Sierra Hoedown offers diverse live music that includes bluegrass, folk, country and Americana. Participants immerse in nature, spend time hiking to Lake Eureka and Eureka Peak, and can practice yoga during the four-day celebration. The festival is all about free expression; feel free to dress in your old timey outfits or shiny hoedown best.
“There will be some food available on site and there is a water source on site, but mostly we are encouraging people to plan well for being there. There is no bottled water or cans of soda or beer being sold,” explains Reynolds. The festival gifts a reusable stainless steel pint cup to every participant for his or her beverages.
“This cuts down on the waste at the site; there are no plastic bottles, cups or cans blowing across the grounds to clean after the event,” Reynolds said. “We also want everyone to be ready for mountain living – it could be rainy, snowy or smoky, we never know,” he added.
Headliners at this year’s event include The Haunted Wind Chimes, Miner, The Good Luck Thrift Store Outfit, Sneaky Creatures, Abalone Grey and more than 25 additional musical acts.
“Bobcat Rob Armenti has been performing at the Hoedown since the beginning. He’s played around Tahoe a bunch and just formed a new band called Abalone Grey. They’ll be performing this year,” Reynolds said.
The vision for the ski bowl has expanded to not only embrace the winter, but looks create a place available for year-round use including a summer recreation center with educational hikes and events. The Lost Sierra Hoedown will take place in Plumas County just outside Graeagle at Plumas Eureka State Park about 45 minutes north of Truckee.
For information and tickets, visit lostsierrahoedown.com. Tickets are limited to 500.
