First Festival is a Sacramento-region music festival founded in 2015 with the stated goal of kicking off the local festival season by spotlighting local bands, artists, crafters, and vendors.[1] It was the brainchild of young local business owners Danielle Vincent and Ashley Rastad, and its lineups drew heavily from Greater Sacramento talent.[1] According to Sactown Magazine, both founders were rooted in Sacramento's midtown retail scene: Vincent operated Firefly and Rastad ran Moonrise Boutique, both out of the Midtown Collective at 19th and P Streets.[2]
At a glance
- Inaugural edition: Saturday, May 23, 2015, at River Walk Park in West Sacramento.[1]
- Founded by local business owners Danielle Vincent and Ashley Rastad.[1]
- Premise: a single-stop showcase of local artists, crafters, business owners, performers, and musicians, plus festival fashion/accessories.[1]
- 2015 inaugural edition: approximately 2,500 attendees and 23 bands.[3][2]
- Expanded to two days and moved to Southside Park, Downtown Sacramento, for 2016 (June 18–19) — approximately 500 attendees and 43 bands.[4][3]
- Returned to River Walk Park, West Sacramento, for its third edition (May 6–7, 2017) after a poor 2016 turnout — 3,500 attendees, 38 bands, 10 comedians, and 50 local artists.[5][3][6]
- Fourth edition: May 5–6, 2018, at Tanzanite Park, Sacramento — 50+ performers, $25,000 city grant, headlined by Blackalicious, A Lot Like Birds, and Butterscotch.[6][7]
What it is
First Festival was conceived as a "laid back" local festival, distinct from large Sacramento events like Aftershock and TBD Fest that draw tens of thousands behind household-name headliners.[1] The organizers framed it as "a one stop shop for everyone's festival needs," combining live local music with local vendors, crafters, and seasonal festival fashion.[1] Beyond music, the inaugural event advertised food trucks, face painting, henna artists, fire dancers, a silent disco, and a beer/wine garden.[1]
The 2015 edition was initially announced as a free event, with organizers stating they would rather attendees "put their money in the pockets of our vendors."[1] An editor's update to the same announcement noted that, shortly after publication, the organizers changed the event to ticketed, at $15 in advance or $20 at the gate.[1]
Editions
2015 — River Walk Park, West Sacramento (inaugural)
The first First Festival was scheduled for May 23, 2015, at River Walk Park in West Sacramento, billed as featuring over 15 top local bands.[1] Announced acts spanned multiple genres: rock bands A Mile Till Dawn, Slaves of Manhattan, Humble Wolf, and Rebel Radio; blues/roots groups Julie and the Jukes and Drop Dead Red (described as Carly DuHain's "new soulful project"); indie-leaning acts Merdog and Stationary; plus Be Brave Bold Robot, The Westwards, Whiskey and Stitches, Dream in Red, D.U.S.T., Thick Soup, Surviving the Era, and Sydney Jones, with additional bands to be announced.[1] The inaugural event drew approximately 2,500 attendees and featured 23 bands.[3][2] Indie/alt-rock band Merdog cited their 2015 First Festival set as especially memorable and released a live recording of that performance as a free Bandcamp download.[8]
2016 — Southside Park, Downtown Sacramento (two-day expansion)
For its second year, the festival expanded to two days and relocated across the bridge from West Sacramento to Southside Park in Downtown Sacramento, scheduled for June 18–19, 2016.[4] The 2016 edition was billed with 25 local bands on two stages, paired with local craft beer, wine, artwork, vendors, and food, running noon to 10 p.m.[4][9] Organizer Danielle Vincent told Submerge ahead of the event that she "can't believe how much traction the festival already has," and her team sifted through more than 100 submissions from local artists to set the lineup.[4] Bands on the 2016 bill included Surviving the Era (who timed the release of their album Parallax to their festival set), Epsilona, Death of Reason, Sun Valley Gun Club, Tell the Wolves, and Drop Dead Red.[9] Despite organizer optimism, the 2016 edition drew approximately 500 attendees — a steep drop from 2015's 2,500 — a result attributed to the move from River Walk Park to Southside Park and the shift from one day to two.[5][3] The final 2016 lineup grew to 43 bands.[3]
2017 — return to River Walk Park, West Sacramento
For the third annual event, organizers returned to the festival's "roots" at River Walk Park in West Sacramento, scheduled for May 6–7, 2017.[5] After 2016's "bad year," organizer Danielle Vincent pressed on, calling the prior edition a learning experience and stating the headliner lineup had "stepped up."[5] The first round of six headliners was revealed at a launch party at Old I: Oleander (a Sacramento post-grunge act that found success in the late 1990s/early 2000s and had recently returned from a roughly decade-long hiatus), local hard-rock act Some Fear None, reggae/rock act Arden Park Roots (described as "arguably Sacramento's most popular and hardest working" in that genre), punk band City of Vain, hip-hop/electronic duo DLRN, and local punk band The Moans.[5] Rising local rapper Hobo Johnson and his band The Lovemakers were also on the 2017 bill, set to perform May 6.[10] A pre-party was planned for February 11, 2017, at Torch Club, featuring Surviving the Era, California Riot Act, and The Cutbacks.[5] Presale tickets went on sale January 1, 2017, at $25 for a weekend pass or $15 single-day; the event again featured vendors, food, craft beer and wine, live art, and a VIP lounge.[5] The 2017 edition drew 3,500 attendees and expanded programming to 38 bands, 10 comedians, and 50 local artists.[3][6]
2018 — Tanzanite Park, Sacramento (fourth edition)
First Festival held a fourth edition on May 5–6, 2018, at Tanzanite Park in Sacramento, featuring over 50 bands and performers across multiple stages, 10 comedians, and avant-garde performers.[6][7] The 2018 edition was funded in part by a $25,000 City of Sacramento Creative Economy Pilot Project grant, matched by approximately $25,000 in fundraising — a financial foundation that enabled paid performers (receiving cash stipends) and the hiring of approximately 10 staff members.[6] Headliners included Blackalicious, A Lot Like Birds, and Butterscotch, along with returning act Oleander.[6] The festival received 800 artist submissions for 2018, up sharply from 280 the previous year.[6] According to the News & Review, the grant and fundraising model represented a meaningful step toward professionalizing the event's operations.
Organizers and local character
First Festival was founded and run by Danielle Vincent and Ashley Rastad, identified as young local business owners; Vincent served as the public-facing organizer across all editions, regularly speaking with Submerge.[1][4][5] Sactown Magazine reported that the two ran their retail shops — Vincent's Firefly and Rastad's Moonrise Boutique — out of the Midtown Collective at 19th and P Streets, grounding both founders in Sacramento's midtown retail scene.[2] (The WiMN profile of Vincent refers to her boutique as "the Lounge," which may reflect a different or later venture from Firefly.[7])
Vincent brought roughly 10 years of background in entertainment — spanning stage, film, and production — to organizing First Festival.[7] In late 2016, she also created the ShowUpSacramento app, designed to promote local shows year-round under the tagline "We make it easy to show up for local arts."[7]
The festival's identity was explicitly built around Greater Sacramento ("local") talent: announcements emphasized "local bands," "Sacramento talent," and "regional bands," and its lineups consistently drew from area acts based in Sacramento, West Sacramento, and nearby communities such as Clarksburg (home of Merdog members).[1][4][8][5] This local origin and focus place First Festival firmly in the local category rather than a touring/visiting event.