With the 36th annual Summer Arts and Music Festival less than two weeks, the Mateel Community Center is in high gear getting ready for this favorite local gathering which will kick off the festival season at Benbow Lake State Recreation Area June 2 - 3. The most comprehensive and affordable celebration of art and entertainment on the North Coast, the festival will highlight more than 100 diverse performances on 4+ stages, over 150 handmade craft and food booths, an all-media fine arts showcase, outrageous kid zone, belly dance temple, and the generation green alternative energy tent, along with lots of other delights for the ears, eyes, body, mind, and soul.

While the event draws performers, vendors, and attendees from across the country, it is also one of the great showcases of our local creative arts talent and many of the exhibitors and entertainers hail from right here in Humboldt and Mendocino Counties. For the full scoop on all the exciting vendors and talent participating, pick up a copy of the official program guide, available now at local newsstands. In addition to performances by annual festival favorites, Feet First, Lost Coast Marimbas, Circus Nature, and Chris & Peter, expect first time performers such as Dysphunctional Species, The Latin Peppers, Zenith’s Wing, Small Axe Orchestra, The Freys, Seed 707, Perico Circo Express, The Moisties, Loose Gravel, State Of Play, and Humboldt VarietyVille.

Also featured will be local festival faves like Joanne Rand, Absynth Quintet, Soulevity, Vidagua, Lakshmi’s Daughters, FreeLove Circus, Twango Macallan, Speed Of Darkness, SoHum Girls, Orphan In The Afterlife, Dirt Floor Band, Ambush, The Bret Harte Breakers, Asha Nan with special guests Juma Sultan & Amde Hamilton, and The No Good Redwood Ramblers, plus headlining sets by Fishbone, Thomas Mapfumo & The Blacks Unlimited, Diego’s Umbrella, Kabbalah, Barons Of Tang, Monkey, Shook Twins, and The Revelations featuring Tre Williams.

Admission is at the gate only and is a steal at $15 per day or $25 for the weekend pass (kids 12 and under are free). Gates open at 9:30 a.m. and entertainment runs from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on both days. A free festival shuttle is offered continuously from Redway, Garberville, Benbow, and the Richardson Grove and Benbow Lake campgrounds. And, in a Summer Arts first, Mateel is working in conjunction with CA State Parks to offer Benbow Lake Campground exclusively to festival attendees. Reservations for this campground can be made either by the individual or as a group site for up to eight people. All camping options include a three-night stay, June 1-3. Camping is by advance reservation only and is available online and at the Mateel office. Visit the Summer Arts page of www.mateel.org for pricing, camping sales links, stage schedules, and lots more festival information.