WinterWonderGrass leaves fans happy, excited for next year

WinterWonderGrass took place April 5-7 at Palisades Tahoe featuring many bands.

The outdoor festival kicked off with a wintry vibe, turning the grounds into a snowglobe of joy among all the music and friends engaging with each other. Saturday was cold and dry and the sun came out on Sunday to warm things up for a bit before a few more flurries came out. The festival was non-stop music from 2 p.m. until about 11 p.m. with one main stage and three side stages. Here’s what some fans had to say about the festival:

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WinterWonderGrass 2024

WinterWonderGrass took place April 5-7, 2024 at Palisades Tahoe. All photos by Kyler Klix of the Nevada Appeal.

FIRST IN LINE

Dave Boggs was first in line on Sunday a couple hours before the gates opened. He said he’s been to every WWG except the first one.

“It’s all about the music,” he said. “There’s always good parts of every lineup, sometimes there are parts I could care less about. There’s always good bands somewhere in the course of the day and sometimes it’s good start to finish all day.”

He was really looking forward to the Sunday headliner, The Infamous Stringdusters.

“Today is the high point with the Stringdusters headlining because they are one of my favorite bands,” he said.

Dave said he’s a big music fan and goes to many shows in the area. He even hosts a radio show on Friday mornings on KVMR.

For the smaller bands, he said he’s happy to see one of his local bands Broken Compass Bluegrass getting more recognition.

“It’s good to see really good young musicians be successful and hopefully they keep it going,” he said.

BRING YOUR KIDS

Children are very welcome to the festival with those 12 and under allowed free. There’s many children running around the festival and many of them can be found in the Kids Zone tent doing arts and crafts and other activities.

Stephanie Riess came with her husband and a 7-year-old daughter from Weaverville, Calif. She’s been bringing her daughter since the kid was about 2 and this is their fifth year in a row.

“It’s always been awesome to bring our kid,” she said.

Riess said the lodging really helps. In the morning they go to a heated pool to hang out and play, and then they come to the festival and do activities in the Kids Zone. Once it gets dark, one of the parents goes back to the hotel with their kid while the other gets to see the rest of the music.

Riess says it’s a great festival to bring kids to, but you must be prepared for any kind of weather  especially since this year was a bit stormier and colder compared to previous years, where she said it had been T-shirt weather. The Kids Tent also helps keep them stay comfortable and dry.

“Don’t hesitate if you have kids,” she said. “You just got to be ready.”

SKIING AND MUSIC VACATION

Shaylin Hendrixson came from Arcata. She said it’s her fourth time coming to the Tahoe event.

What keeps her coming back? “The good music, the beautiful setting and the good skiing,” she said. “It’s a great vacation.”

She said her and her husband meet friends while they are here and have a fun time and one of her favorite highlights is the free tastings every day from 2-5 p.m.

Debbie Modrovsky came from Park City, Utah. She and her husband travel all over in their camper, and they’ve been coming to both WinterWonderGrass events in Tahoe and Steamboat over the past few years. She said it was her third Tahoe event and fourth Steamboat event this year.

She said the things that keep her coming back are: “The skiing, the music and the whole atmosphere of it,” she said.

She said she’d already plan on coming back next year.

Her favorite thing of the weekend was the sun coming out on Sunday and she said there was a lot of good music to look forward to on the last day of the festival.

‘IT SAVED MY LIFE’

Uncle Be from Reno was hanging out in the parking lot and playing guitar with Josh Riggs. He lost track of how many he’s been to but said that he’s been to most of the events. He keeps coming back as a volunteer.

“I like to volunteer for the festival, and I always like to be a part of it and it’s a great experience,” he said.

He said WinterWonderGrass is very meaningful to him deep down as he choked up to find the words.

“It saved my life last year,” he said. “I was close to death for a while, and I came and got rejuvenated by the music. I owe WinterWonderGrass my life.”

For Riggs, this was his first time coming to WWG Tahoe, although he recently just went to the one in Steamboat. He said he’s been living all over, but he’s from Jackson Hole, Wyo., and he just moved to Fort Collins, Colo.

“It was awesome. Both festivals are great. Both are really well run and super fun,” he said.

Among the highlights musically, Sierra Ferrell was one of his favorites.

“I love Sierra Ferrell, man. She is so good. She’s got that voice, you know, that’s just right. I love it,” he said.

FIRST TIME

Theron McAdoo had been looking forward to his first WinterWonderGrass since he moved to Truckee almost one year ago. He said he bought his tickets as soon as they came out in October, and he knew he’d be living in the area when it was going on.

“I got my three-day pass as soon as it came out,” he said. “I’ve always loved bluegrass and living this close to a big festival like this, you got to go.”

He said one of his music highlights of the weekend was the Lil Smokies. He also mentioned he is really impressed with Broken Compass Bluegrass.

“It’s cool to see a young band like that picking, and really picking well and getting to open for a band like the Stringdusters,” he said.

McAdoo said he’ll plan on returning if he’s still living in the area next year.

GREEN TEAM

Green Team Leader Virginia Hammock was sorting waste and had a moment to talk about her favorite parts about WWG.

“The community, the smiles, the hugs, the high-fives and the appreciation on everyone’s faces,” she said. “That’s the best thing about WinterWonderGrass. It’s really about the people.”

As the Green Team leader, she’s responsible for leading the effort to keeping the grounds clean.

While she gives her team credit for keeping the grounds very clean, she said the patrons who attend also share the same sentiments and do a good job at putting waste where It belongs and helping clean up.

“Everybody goes the extra mile to pick up that extra beer can off the ground, so that just helps us preserve the beauty that surrounds us,” she said.

The festival provides patrons with Kleen Kanteen cups for refills so they’re not constantly reusing cups. And the cups that they do use are compostable along with all utensils and containers for food.

The festival also has a ban on glitter, glowsticks and Styrofoam and they ask the vendors to not bring stuff like that or cheap promotional items.

“We are not creating a lot of trash and we can still have a really fun festival,” she said. “We’re so lucky to have festival promoters that really value this.”

The festival’s goal is to divert 75 percent of the waste away from the landfill. It’s something they can measure and keep statistics on and something they are trying to lead the way in the concert/festival world.

Hammock said she is very happy to return to Tahoe every year knowing that she has helped sustain WWG in a positive way.

“We’re just incredibly lucky to be able to come to Tahoe and throw a festival like this,” she said. “And if everybody could just remember to bring their cup every day, we’d be in better shape.”