It’s Back! Reggae on the River Music Festival Set to Roll on the First Weekend in August
Reggae on the River aerial in 2016 [Image provided by a reader]
Reggae on the River has a rich history dating back to its inception in 1984. (Do we still get to count this as its 40th anniversary year?) Originally a fundraiser for the Mateel Community Center, the festival has since evolved into one of the longest-running reggae festivals in the world. It has hosted an array of iconic reggae artists, offering attendees a diverse and uplifting musical experience. Set amidst the majestic redwood forests of Northern California, the festival has been a unique blend of music, nature, and communal harmony.
Reggae on the River 2016 image
However, the festival’s journey has not been without its…shall we say…challenges. In 2006, a significant conflict, often referred to as the “Reggae Wars,” erupted between the festival’s producers, the Mateel Community Center and People’s Productions. This led to a period of uncertainty and changes in production and venue.
The festival later partnered with High Times magazine’s events company but High Times cancelled the show in 2019 due to financial issues.
COVID compounded the festival’s problems from 2020 to 2023. With some attempts at Reggae not on the River but at the Mateel.
But now, the 2024 revival of Reggae on the River marks a new chapter for the festival. Humboldt County’s Planning Commission has approved a five-year permit extension, indicating a commitment to the festival’s future. The event will be held at Dimmick Ranch, also known as County Line Ranch, with Cook’s Valley Campground serving as an auxiliary site for parking and camping.
This return is not just a celebration of reggae music but also a significant economic and cultural boost for the Southern Humboldt community. The festival is known for promoting values of unity, love, and social consciousness. Besides music, in the past it has offered a holistic experience with art installations, workshops, wellness activities, and an array of food options. The event also emphasizes environmental sustainability and supports various social causes.
For many in SoHum, the return of Reggae on the River in 2024 is a beacon of hope and joy not just for reggae enthusiasts and but for the community–especially those who own businesses.
Note: Reggae on the River ads appear on this website. We support the Matteel by providing free advertising and they have purchased additional advertising.
Below is the ad for this year linked to the Reggae on the River site. 
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Is Reggae even still a thing?
from the angle on Rastafari ? Idk I feel
like a dinosaur, but
I have good memories of seeing ras Michael and sons of negus, ras pidow ( summer 99 when he toured and held nyiabinghis) Pablo Moses, the congos, al Anderson with legit backers, family man, uroy, bunny, sky and Robbie, roots radics, billy mystic so many more that created the culture.
still love the drums, the music the message.
Yes Rasta
I frequently listen to selections from my extensive reggae collection (usually Midnite). I would never go to Reggae On The River anymore.
[email protected]
Why wouldn’t you go?
Please say why
also curious, why?
perspectives are valued here im sure..
no reggae is not a thing anymore. They should have just kept the small but profitable version of the event going at Benbow. Trying to throw a big festival at Dimmicks is financially very risky.
This question means you know something
They say no questions are stupid but…
The only reason this is no longer held at French’s Camp is that the executor of Jack Arthur’s trust is too difficult to with with.
It’s OK if they keep the White hippies out of the river.
Yes, let us now be racist against who gets to go in the river…..( eye rolls )……..SMH
Great name. Thanks for being unique and original. ?
Nobody for president “24”
…as long as it’s a “patchouli free zone”. – it all good!
Stop being racist!!
Isn’t that aka French’s Camp?
Just up river from French’s Camp
$299 for general admission! Wow I’ll be sitting this one out due to bidenomics. Tryin to stay alive till 25’..
Yeah, Joe personally set ticket prices. All Presidents set ticket prices.
I love when people pretend there is no link between Biden gas prices and inflation. They want to believe it’s all trumps fault
Or they simply understand how economics works and poke fun at people who make foolish statements.
“Biden does not control the price of gasoline”
Except for that one time when they flooded the market with 250M barrels and took credit for the price drop.
“This sale will complete the historic, 180-million-barrel drawdown the President announced in the spring, which has helped to stabilize crude oil markets and reduce prices at the pump.”
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/10/18/fact-sheet-president-biden-to-announce-new-actions-to-strengthen-u-s-energy-security-encourage-production-and-bring-down-costs/
So, is that an example of a Biden policy decision you support or don’t support?
No, I do not support government manipulating markets, it creates far more dysfunction than it resolves.
Yeah, that’s 3 days worth. Hardly a flood.
Its two weeks worth, which was more than enough to manipulate the price downwards
He could start production and restart drilling anytime to bring our prices down.
Here’s something America is leading the world in—oil production. This year, the United States pumped out more oil than any other country in history, producing millions more barrels than Russia or Saudi Arabia ever have and accounting for almost a fifth the world’s total oil production. And the Biden administration played a part in making it happen.
Neither you, or they, understand how economics work , but you do know how to make foolish statements towards any and every single commenter who presents contemporaneous facts that rebut your Marxist agenda.
Good thing you’re here to throw shade and offer no substance though. The only guy who understands economics. Jesus.
Gasp… you and D’Tucker would never dream of throwing shade.
How does economics work?
Pretty much just like magnets, at least for MAGAlos.
Like people who pretend the 2020 (s)election was legit
60 court cases said there was no evidence, so if the democrats already stole one election, without any evidence to prove they did it why would Trump want to run again? It was a really stupid move on the democrats to not steal both houses, and why is Trump running again if the Democrats know how to steal election with no evidence to be found?
Goldman-Sachs, Raytheon, and their ilk. Have stolen every election since Reagan. Sometimes they use a Democrat. Sometimes they use a Republican. It’s irrelevant They win every time.
They buy influence which is awful, but that is not the same as stealing. Lets not fly off into hysterics.
Yes, Trumps lawyers had tons of evidence they forgot to bring to courts across the land. And all the judges collaborated too.
Everything is the rump’s fault.
I was paying 4.95 for diesel at Hansen’s truck stop in 2007, under GW. Bush
Thanks to bidenomax, everything has gone up except the price of weed. What’s a pound of weed these days, about $300.?
$300-$900 to the farmer depending on quality. Retail pounds are going for $1800- $7200($15-$60 eights). Hopefully this will be a good show for serving up custies in the lot. There ain’t as much weed floating around up here as there used to be.
Yes, if the republicans ran everything it’d be like the good old days when gas was buck. Dude, you’re way too hung up on partisanship. You sound like an extremist, which is obnoxious on the left and the right.
How’s that inflation working for you?
“Reggae on the river” is affectionately know by the locals as “tweek on the creek”.
Weird, I’ve only over heard “Rage on my liver” or ” Rape on the river”, because of all the sexual assaults that are brushed under the rug. It’s way more important to them that none of the concert goers know there’s an issue, than to alert others and look for the suspect.
This is true. And extremely shameful. It’s why I always advise young women to bring a big knife and stay alert…
Or a small gun.
Perhaps ‘Rufied on the River’ would be the match? Watch those drinks and practice the buddy system.
Not to be confused with “the Roll on the Mattole” the week before.
Never heard that before. The raging on the liver yes 100% but not many rasta, reggae party type are tweekers. Use other things. BUT HEY THE BEST YET??? PARTY SOBER YOU WILL LIVE TO TELL. Many ODs and other untimely deaths have occured at the site and during the festival over the years.. ❤️
Rage on the road.
Sweet. This will bring good publicity to are area. A long with much needed revenue to local businesses. Please support this event and future redwood run.
They need day parking. Some of us don’t want to camp there and would prefer to go home at night and come back the next day.
It will be like Coachella and save SoHum from certain doom!
”Wookiee on the river “ “hippie in the shitter”
Impressive. Do you come up with all your own jokes, Or do you have a team of writers that does that for you?
Will there be a Voice in opposition?
I made my written comments and spoke to this at the Planning Commission in May 2023. I cannot stop the MCC (ROTR), NNMF, County Line Ranch or Cook’s Valley Campground from using the South Fork Eel River as a walk-in bidet!
“No individual or partnership, or corporation, claiming or possessing the frontage or tidal lands of a harbor, bay, inlet estuary, or other navigable water in this State, shall be permitted to exclude the right of way to such water whenever it is required for any public purpose, nor to destroy or obstruct the free navigation of such water; and the Legislature shall enact such laws as will give the most liberal construction to this provision, so that access to the navigable waters of this State shall always be attainable for the people thereof.”
https://www.slc.ca.gov/public-access/a-legal-guide-to-the-publics-rights-to-access-and-use-californias-navigable-waters/
Thanks Ed, and ROR is an environmental, social and economic disaster fully rounded…
3 day drug-party, anachronistic music, and many dangerous situations, traffic, sexual, chemical and yes, water pollution highly concentrated…
I always left town for this, but then one or two old Bob Marley numbers is all I can handle…
Reggae as Babylon, and don’t pay the Mateel in cash…
Your description fits every one of the thousands of homeless encampments in California, and no one cares about them.
Whats one more?
Wow, you are comparing homeless encampments to Reggae on the River, Northern Nights Music Festival and Summer Arts & Music Festival?
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“Wow, you are comparing homeless encampments to Reggae on the River, Northern Nights Music Festival and Summer Arts & Music Festival?”
Yes. The motivations for being there might be different, but the “environmental, social and economic disaster” seems quite comparable.
One definition of intelligence is the ability to see similarities in things that are different, and differences in things that are similar…
How many “homeless encampments” include 9,000 campers, 10,000 attendees and 4,500 vehicles for 4 days like NNMF or 7,000 campers, 8,000 attendees and 4,000 vehicles for 3 days like ROTR. You cannot even compare “homeless encampments” to just one of these events that would degrade the river and wildlife habitat. I do not recall “homeless encampments” playing music at over 120 db for days on end and heard 7 miles away. Your analogy could not be further from the truth…
https://humboldt.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=11973801&GUID=7C66805F-DAF9-4A0E-A5FB-D589B039B474
Sure, the scale is different, but there are thousands of homeless encampments operating 365 days a year.
Which do you think is worse?
The festivals are environmental destruction
profiteers. There is no moral equivalence to homeless
encampments. I have compassion for the homeless and
disdain for the festival goers.
So it is exactly like I said: ‘Your description fits every one of the thousands of homeless encampments in California, and no one cares about them.’
Please provide the source documents you have claiming:
“but there are thousands of homeless encampments operating 365 days a year”?
Well, wikipedia says there are 123,423 people living “unsheltered” in California. I don’t know how many camps that is, but in order to be less than ‘thousands’ (1,999) that would mean there would have to be an average of more than 62 people per camp. That seems unlikely. So yeah, thousands of camps.
Why is that relevant? The point is that no one is worried about the 123,423 homeless, why the fuss about 9,000 campers that are only there 3 days? Heck, some of the campers are probably homeless…
Your talking about San Francisco. Portland and Reno. All have close to the #s you mentioned in homeless populations. Driven past the frontage road just out of Marin lately? Thousands there. They havent had ROTR since Fetty became so dominate in the mix. Hopefully they have a lot of NARCAN ready. Pass it out for free at the gate. Contaminated drugs are the norm. Think its Ex or Molly and its none of the above.
Supply zero Narcan and let the bodies pile up. Instead of spending so much energy saving the lives of people who don’t even care about their own. Maybe people will start getting the clue when the newspapers show piles of bodies from Reggae weekend….
Hey Ed. What do you think about all the homeless camps surrounding Redway and Garberville that are within 50 feet of a class two or class three water course? How about those guys using those little creeks as a bidet year-round?
I love bidets. I have 5.
Wow, something I agree with you and Ed about?
You read my mind, I’m floating in.
Yeah, you can pull up to County Line Ranch with a boat on a trailer and they have to let you through the festival to get down to the boat launch there.
I was told, the event producers and promoters restricted access to the public from boating or floating from upstream of the events and downstream through the event sites on the river. In other words, they have security check points upstream of the event, stopping people from boating or floating downstream on the river through the event site location. That is illegal. And, as long as anyone uses or gains access to the river bar below the ordinary high water mark, you are not trespassing. Did you read what I posted?
Hundred bucks a day ? Wow
Pretty much standard festival prices these days. Not greedy. Eventually every agency and nearby service agency plus layers of management for the bands and insurance, etc etc got their hands in the pockets of anybody trying to throw music festivals and now only rich folks can go get entertained. So grateful I got my fill of killer shows before the legions of parasites destroyed music festivals. Anyways if this is The Mateel I would hope there are ways to volunteer and attend for free- that’s always the best way anyways. Much better than being a custy…
I went to a few of those in the mid and late 80’s. Pseudo hippie culture isn’t my thing, but some of the music was ok. Don’t think I have to tolerance for that many woke posers now…
I have enjoyed the KMUD simulcast which I hope will return as well.
Just a stinking rotten mess of people who don’t give a rat’s ass for the environment. Broken bottles, needles, barf and shit in the river and on the banks. Not exactly a family event. With admission costing $299.00 dollars that will thin out the folks. Not sure if that price is for every man, woman and child or not.
Don’t share your views about potential attendees. Probably more sensitive to environment than most folks. Bottles can be dealt with. Barf in the river won’t happen….this is not a kegger.
There’s a difference between being environmentally conscious and pretending to be environmentally conscious. I’ll bet the trash scene is a shit show.
Intelligent people learn from past mistakes.
It’s always an overpriced mess…
Environmental disaster for the river at such a size
Don’t think the crowd will be that big but I do think at those prices it’s going to require major security to keep the “fence jumpers” out.
What a bunch of uptight commenters. Having fun at the river in hot august is such a terrible idea? And it brings in tourists and makes this sad town a little money? Give me a break. When people get together, yes they make a mess. And then we clean it up. I wonder if these commenters ever do anything that involves fun and people?
With a billion dollars sucked out of our community with legalization, let’s keep our options open on how we won’t become a third world county.
Great news! THANK YOU MATEEL COMMUNITY CENTER for bringing this BACK!!!
Now that the next generation of ‘alternative community’ folks are more fully in charge of the local community service organizations their parents/ families built, they have refocused the vision to become, yet again a vibrant community.
Have compassion for the nay-sayers. Masses of people gathering can have issues, yet places and events like Burning Man have shown that those can be mostly mitigated. ROTR 2024 can be a holistically healthy event! Pitch in! And forward, So Hum!!
Have fun swimming in the river of crap!
Don’t pay the Mateel in cash!
Why not ? I just moved here .
Downstream problem for me, but I’ll be sure to float a few grogans their way.
Truly disheartening how almost every comment is negative. Not surprising, just sad. Maybe try lifting it up. Who would like to see some non profits make a few bucks?
It isn’t that some people will make money,
in critical habitat area you want to have a festival of thousands?
You are grifting off of the Commons, with the Commons paying the price.
I pity the downriver folk, flora and fauna.
If someone thinks Humboldt County Planning Department
gives a tinker’s damn about our environment,
take a
look at what is left of our coastal wetlands.
To be honest sewage spills into the river from river town systems over the years might shock you. I never 1 time heard of anyone take a poo in the river at reggae. Yeah I don’t think many people have much respect for the planning department. What specifically is the damage not being addressed?
Don’t worry about it, some people are not happy unless they are unhappy.
However, if I were to complain, there does not seem to be any information on what bands might be playing. I think the last time I went I went to see the Mighty Diamonds. Then they didn’t play. Still kind of bummed about that…
Now just bring back the Redwood Run.
Never went, never going
we’re all so sad. wondering the whole time where you are.
‘A highlight of Humboldt County’s cultural landscape for decades’.
Culture? Is that what selling dope is called?
Landscape? Ruining the river and trashing the place?
Damned glad I got no culture!
Sounds like you have a stick up your…
Everyone keeps saying it ruins the river and destroys the environment.
Please point out damage that can currently be seen from past festivals, I would like to see it…
I’m sure there is environmental impact that can’t be seen, but I don’t think it is significant. Everything we do has negative environmental impacts, you gotta decide if you want tap water, sewer, electricity, etc. These enviro extremists should go live in the woods and subsists off the land.
Reggae music can be positive, uplifting, and spiritual. I listen to different styles of Reggae music all throughout the day. I enjoy the way Reggae music makes me feel more connected to nature, people and the planet. Good Reggae music is like going to church ⛪️ for your soul. If you don’t get it that’s okay. Those that do know what I’m talking about. Listen to the lyrics of roots reggae and your mind will feel grounded, at peace and in harmony with the universe.
Reggae lyrics – remember this one? “Walkin down the street, I saw a slick lookin chick. Danger was, her name was Nick.” That will get you cancelled from ROR and probably run outta staying at the Benbow Inn.
50% of who are complaining have never once been to ROTR. Pretenders! Reggae crowds may smoke weed but aren’t nasty.
The site could be so much more if they had better groups and less mis management.
Thank Frank..
Stay away from crowds.
I like that this could bring revenue into Southern Humboldt where it is much needed, but prefer the toned down version of Reggae on the River, when it was more of a local celebration.
Honestly, I do not know how the County approves this event on the fragile Eel River, especially in August when flows are so low and the fish (what there are) are exposed to a huge reduction in oxygen levels due to the human impacts. All you have to do is look at that picture at top of article, then picture the low flow conditions in August, and it makes you wonder how it gets approved.
Sorry, but reality given our river conditions.
The County disregards our environment at every turn, now it has partnered with the Friends of the Dunes- a consortium of idiots and yes men under the guise of environmentalism.
They’ve figured out how to tap enviro-funding sans inspection.
Before the galoots at the County apply for their outrageous pensions, they should be held accountable for the terrible conditions our Natural Resources are now in.
For the most part, the Planning Commission thinks it knows best, along with the Planning Department and Supervisors. No matter the comments to a project, there is no common sense. I have lost track how many times I have warned the Planning Commission of the consequences of a project and their actions and when it comes to fruition, they keep approving the project bigger than ever. Reggae on the River is the prime example. The question no one can answer, how do these festivals on the South Fork Eel benefit the river and wildlife habitat?
https://humboldt.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=11973801&GUID=7C66805F-DAF9-4A0E-A5FB-D589B039B474
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Efd5kERQv4M42i2v8E1CEa76a7qKUV9K/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fz1NDAMgo7gtr1HlDTUt6j5_ZJsh6gvd/view?usp=sharing
Ed, you’re the only one who thinks they know what is best. I guess I’d be frustrated to if no one cared about my opinion… And that’s all it is is your opinions. Let people have fun and spend money. Go be miserable somewhere else please.
Thank you Todd. These enviro extremists are way off in left field and my do they have a high opinion of their opinions.
No more of a “high opinion” than the Mateel and their private partnerships. Who is ‘Hot Milk Entertainment LLC’?
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Prqkeu7daQuODjbjwW3Y6Y0VyhJVqYR5/view?usp=sharing
And there is the bottom line; sacrifice the freedom of the river and wildlife habitat so privileged people can “have fun and spend money”. What you need to remember is that there’s what people want to hear, there’s what people want to believe, there’s everything else, THEN there’s the truth! Which is why everyone dreads the truth. I feel the river and wild habitat is worth saving and speaking up to save, not to degrade so people can have fun and spend money…
I think you just have it our for the mateel?…. Listen to yourself… “whos hot milk ent” who cares. Lmao…..u sound like a bitter old karen. Get over it…obsessed much?
I’ve been to nearly 5 reggae’s on the River from the 70s up until the 90s and I have to admit at the time of my life I highly recommend if you haven’t been to one at least go to one you’ll agree.