Future "Festivals," Take Note.

Last week when I was asked by my two friends if I wanted to go to the "Cultivate Festival" in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, my first question was obviously, "what is that?" After I let them tell me that it was a food and music festival created by Chipotle Mexican Grill, meant to celebrate responsibly raised, skillfully prepared, and delightfully enjoyed foods, my only other question was, "can we go early?"

Now, this is the kind of festival I would die to go to every. Single. Weekend. Set up in the middle was the music/concert stage which was surrounded by 2 "main event" stages. The main event stages were equally as popular as the music stage though, probably because the guest talents that were showcased there were some of the hottest names in culinary pop culture right now. Chopped personality and Iron Chef competitor Amanda Freitag did a cooking demonstration, as did Iron Chefs Michael Chiarello & Nate Appleman. The music stage and main stages were surrounded by a plethora of food stations, all sporting their finest sustainable foods and veggies, and informational activity booths were littered about the park grounds as well. However, if you were looking for me during the Festival, chances are you'd find me in the "Tasting Room;" a huge tent that sold tasting cups as well as full glasses of about 25 different kinds of locally brewed craft beers.

The connotation that comes with the umbrella word "festival" these days is an overwhelming music show that has 50 or so artists that spans over the course of a weekend. Now to be clear, I love music festivals like Coachella, Outside Lands, and FYF Fest. However, after going to the Cultivate Festival this past weekend, as well as having experienced full on music festivals such as Coachella in the past, there's 3 solid changes that I'd love to see taken into account for festivals in the future. So if you're on that Coachella planning committee, listen up, bro.

1) A Meaning (or cause): 
Although music festivals pull in an enormous crowd of people willing to pay ungodly amounts of money for admission tickets (all of which are looking to go just to hear music), I think it would be great if future festivals stood for something, or helped to highlight a way of thought or living. For example, the Cultivate Festival tried to bring to light sustainable and locally grown foods and vegetables, as well as the positive economic and wellness benefits that come with buying them. Even a music festival that aimed at highlighting the prosperity of the thriving music culture in L.A. by only inviting musicians whose reputation was built in Southern California is an example of what I mean by "having a cause/meaning." The target audience is much more passionate about the performers, as well as what the festival is attempting to shed more light on. At Cultivate, I just really enjoyed being around so many other people that were just as obsessed and intrigued by food as I was.

2) Hybridity of Talent:
I really, really enjoyed getting to see talent that was not just all musicians at Cultivate. Seeing performances by chefs, hearing lectures by local farmers, and reliving experiences shared by restaurant critics kept each event of the day new, fresh, and exciting. In comparison to a music festival, sometimes you get tired of 8 foot speakers screaming techno in your face, and you just want to step away but continue to enjoy yourself as just as much. For myself, as well as others, I'm sure it was nice to step away from the music stage to see a culinary pop culture icon such as Amanda Freitag whip up a delicious looking rack of ribs while kicking off my dancing shoes for an hour. 

3) TASTING TENTS:

Okay, predictable enough. Derrick wants more tasting tents...everywhere in his life. But seriously, for festivals of any kind, 21 and up obviously, I want to be able to choose from 25 different kinds of beer all day long. However, things might get out of hand if there are tasting tents at EDC or something like that...let me rethink #3 for a bit.