![]() ![]() Courtesy photoĪ VIP campground includes air-conditioned “glamping” tents. Tickets for kids 12 and younger are just $20 for the entire weekend. UTOPiAfest puts family first with a kids’ camp, magic shows, arts and crafts, and more fun activities for the little ones. The kids’ camp features scheduled activities throughout the day, including musical performances, magic shows, arts and crafts, and science experiments. The family campground is complete with a kids’ camp, a safe environment where children of all ages are free to roam. “It’s a big family campout and hangout with musicians from all over the world.”Ĭampers have several options from which to choose aside from the general admission tent camping, which is free with a weekend pass. “It’s as much about the experience as it is about the music,” Sutherland said. The festival grounds are located on about Reveille Peak Ranch, a location accustomed to large events that may have up to 20,000 people. We needed to be closer to resources and to people.” “We wanted to grow a little bigger, and it was very difficult being so far from all the vendors. “We still wanted to be in the beautiful Hill Country,” he said. ![]() Sutherland initially planned to have the festival at a ranch just east of Burnet. Passes for Utopia Fest Down in the Oaks are on sale now.Festival-goers can kick back and relax at interactive art installations spread throughout the festival grounds. This ranch is a portal where people can dream and create… or just sit.” “We want people to come out here and forget their stresses and connect again, unplug from the craziness of society, and truly jump into the energy flow of this place. “Our goal with Down in the Oaks is to rejuvenate souls,” declares Patrick, who demonstrated an Emerson-like appreciation for nature as he led the tour, pointing out ancient trees and sacred clearings. Meanwhile, the Harrison brothers’ vision of sharing their family’s ranch stands in philosophical accord with Sutherland’s Utopia. With no overlapping music, you’ll never have to choose between bands. When I came here, I saw that it was special and had a lot of potential.”Īnother of Utopia’s idyllic principals remains unchanged. I was just looking for a place to transplant Utopia that was a worthy successor to the ranch. “At first, I didn’t look at the move as the beginning of a new chapter. “What attracted me to this place is that, even though it’s closer to Austin, there’s no sign of civilization,” offered Sutherland, who thinks of Utopia as a nature retreat as much as a festival. The plot is stunningly vast one of its four main fields is larger than ACL Fest’s entire footprint. The manicured grounds, which “Playback” explored on a two-and-a-half hour stroll with the Utopia Fest Down in the Oaks team on Sunday, sequenced a variety of natural landscapes: large open fields slated for stages and camping, groves of ancient oak trees providing natural canopies where VIP areas and the silent disco will take place, plus hills, trails, hidden ponds, and a flowing fork of the San Gabriel River. Soon, the pair brought out reinforcements – chainsaws, riding mowers, skid-steer loaders – and cleared out acre upon acre of tall grass, cedar, and lifeless oaks that had been casualties of drought. “It was hard, but we could actually see the progress and that felt good.” “Brandon and I started clearing the area with push mowers,” Dena recalled yesterday as he overlooked one of the property’s seemingly endless fields. ![]() The latter was so enchanted by the 100-plus-acre expanse that he left his home town of New York City and a career in orthopedics to help the brothers transform the land into an event space. Getting to the grounds in Burnet County takes just over an hour.The move finds Sutherland partnering with Down in the Oaks Entertainment, a three-man team including homegrown Austinites Patrick and Brandon Harrison, whose family has owned the property since 1936, and their friend Jeff Dena. Sutherland reports that over the last nine years, 70-80% of Utopia Fest attendees originated from Austin. ![]() Others christening the new site include roots muse Valerie June, hip-hop pioneer Grandmaster Flash, avant groove pianist John Medeski’s Mad Skillet project, and a bluegrass tribute to Tom Petty, featuring Keller Williams and the Hillbenders. Livetronica heroes STS9, Austin siren Patty Griffin, and soulful scion Lukas Nelson & the Promise of the Real receive top billing. This morning’s announcement also yields a lineup for the three-day campout, Nov. Utopia Fest Down in the Oaks: (l-r) Brandon Harrison, Patrick Harrison, Jeff Dena, and Travis Sutherland (Photo by John Anderson) ![]()
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