Cover photo by Peter Speyer
Festival Squad: Thanks for sitting down with us. Could you tell us a little about the history of June Jam and how the festival became the beauty encompassed in the experience today?
June Jam: We started June Jam as an intimate regional gathering of like-minded creatives called Juniper Jam in Skull Valley, AZ in 2018. After finding our forever home at Playa Ponderosa in Flagstaff the following year, we rebranded to June Jam and have grown the community significantly year after year. Our driving focus has been to create a blank canvas that presents a safe space for folks to express themselves artistically, personally, and through connecting with the community. Every person that comes to June Jam adds to the experience — that’s the beauty of it. We have unofficial theme camps offering free happy hours, fun interactive art projects, people bringing their own instruments to play at camp and around the property, pirate clowns gently heckling passersby, and all kinds of spontaneous engagement that happens organically. There’s always new things happening and wonderful moments filled with kindness and levity that fill our hearts in unexpected ways. We also pride ourselves on taking exceptional care of everyone on site — attendees and staff alike. You can really feel the love and magic permeating the entirety of the festival.
Festival Squad: It is clear that the festival’s Ethos and history go hand in hand… What inspired the 7 layers of Ethos woven into this community?
June Jam: We wrote the JJ Ethos to help provide some much-needed context for our community. While we’re big fans of developing things organically, we have a responsibility as event producers to set the tone for what’s expected. All 7 points kind of boil down to the same thing — “Don’t be a Dick” — but we also think that Accountability & Consent need to be at the forefront of people’s minds. June Jam may not be perfect, but we don’t have a lot of the problems so many other festivals have and we like to think that stems from how we treat people, how we treat each other, and how we encourage the JJ community to internalize the Ethos not just at the festival, but in their day-to-day lives.
Festival Squad: What are some of your favorite ways that June Jam sets the scene for this spirit & ethos to flourish at the festival?
June Jam: Honestly, we just do our damndest to treat everyone with kindness and respect. It’s really that simple.
Festival Squad: That’s all for now. Thanks for chatting with us, we are looking forward to our return to Playa Ponderosa in 2025!