Written by Dianissa Boigues & Pedro Rosario
Photos by Michael Benz (cover photo), Banana Cam Photo, Mary Matheson Photography and Esette Photo
After years of wanting to go to Bass Coast Festival I can honestly say that in one word Bass Coast Festival is AMAZING!!! What a beautiful festival full of the nicest people we have ever met! The vibe was so chill; everyone was so courteous and just plain friendly. The weather was perfect!
The road to Bass Coast was great, the hubby & I had a 4 hr drive from Washington State, and the scenery was beautiful to say the least. As you know, the festival is held in Merritt, Canada, BC; a small quaint town. The location is great as it’s close but still far enough from the town. While driving in to the festival, you feel as if you’re leaving reality and entering a time warp of music, tons of dancing, good times & amazing people all sharing the same love for MUSIC.
After we checked in, we went off to look for a camping spot. We had the options for car camping or, parking and looking for a camping spot. We went for the most convenient for us which is, good old car camping. We decided for camp A, it’s the furthest away from the stages; we wanted to be able to sleep! The walk wasn’t that bad, it was about 10 min. away from downtown (where the Main Stage is located). We were lucky enough to find a spot pretty close to the river which was a plus for when we wanted to cool down & relax before getting ready for the night. We were lucky enough to not have extremely hot weather, the hottest day was about 71F & it got all the way down to 50F. For those who are like me and suffer if it gets too cold, be prepared to have warm socks, pants, beanie & comfy sweater to sleep! We highly suggest arriving as early as possible to find a good camping spot. We arrived on Thursday a bit after 2pm and there was a pretty good amount of space left, per usual, the later you arrive, the more difficult it gets to find a spot.
After setting up camp, we went to the river to cool off & relax a bit before heading downtown. Camp A had an area sealed off so everyone could have a way to/from the river. We found a pretty shallow spot to sit in & watched people tubing all the way down the river (note to self for next year, bring water tubes!) to get to camp B & C, looked like a fun ride! The water was at a perfect temperature, so there were a lot of people but still comfortable enough that everyone had the opportunity to get in! Stayed for about 2 hours and decided to head back to camp and get ready for the afternoon/evening.
The walk from camp A to downtown is about ten minutes, which isn’t bad. As soon as we walked in to downtown, we were in awe, so MANY food vendors (we were starving of course & wanted to try everything!) & great music, the Cantina stage had just opened too. We decided to go for a yummy pizza and then hit the general store to grab some merch. We walked around for a bit, a few things were still being set up so we walked back to the campsite and decided to go to relax until late in the evening. Night time came and we went to check out the area where Slay Bay & Radio Stage are located and saw a few art works being set up, vendors getting prepared and then we decided to have another bite to eat and wait to see everything on Friday.
As we walked in on Friday, we could admire all of the art pieces that had been set up & the vendors.
We went directly to Radio Stage and were super stoked to catch Fracture’s set, but later we moved on to Slay Bay. We were in awe with how the visuals were perfectly in sync with the music! Our last stop was the main stage before heading back to camp. On Saturday, we saw for the first time, IMUR, JPOD, The Funk Hunters at Main Stage & new faves, Huxley Anne & Barclay Crenshaw at Slay Bay Stage. On Sunday, we caught Mat the Alien B2B The Librarian (amazing set!) & closed the night with Alix Perez.
Alix Perez
Fracture
That’s a glimpse in to our weekend at Bass Coast! The festival is MAGICAL and full of beautiful people. Everyone is so friendly that I actually danced with a random person! We really loved how the festival is not too big, it’s the perfect amount of people, no long lines at the coffee stand in the morning, or having to choose your meals dependant on shorter lines, the water station was always available, etc. These are some perks of going to a festival this size, which is perfect, in our opinion.
The festival received a very well deserved “Best Boutique Festival” award! Bass Coast Festival is a full musical, tangible & visual experience. If you haven’t gone yet, don’t wait and just do it, we promise you that you will not be disappointed!