Vacations Blog

This weekend, my husband and I managed to have a San Francisco weekend that combined fun, cheap, and dog-friendly. How did we do this? We woke up to sunny skies (when the forecast called for rain) and headed to Golden Gate park for the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival.

The festival has four different stages, each with back to back line-ups, bands like Iron and Wine, Elvis Costello, and Robert Earl King Jr. The whole thing is very well-organized. I actually saw trash cans labeled “compost” alongside the usual, “glass recycle” “plastic bottles” “landfill”, etc. The people are relaxed. It is the kind of festival where you bring a blanket, a picnic lunch, maybe even a frisbee. When you need a break from the music, you just wonder through a Eucalyptus grove into an adjacent clearing and find a pond or a garden to explore.

They don’t sell alcohol at the festival, so people bring their own wine and beer. I think this might be why everyone is so friendly and relaxed…they aren’t feeling swindled because they just spent $5 on a single beer!

The best part was how dog-friendly the festival was. We took our little mutt and he had a blast! There were lots of other dogs for him to meet and lots of friendly strangers to pet him. He laid on our blanket, chewing a bone, while we listened to the music. At one point, we even took at break and walked him over to the off-leash dog zone in the park. It was only a 10 minute walk from the festival area. It is rare that we can enjoy a day in the city without leaving our dog at home, so this was a treat.

The most amazing thing about this festival…it is absolutely FREE!!!

Thanks to Jordan Klein for the festival photo.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!