The road to Grizzly Fest leads to this weekend's festival

Grizzly Fest 2018 is upon us this weekend, and the all ages, two-day music festival already seems bound for the local history books, destined to be a milestone moment in elevating Fresno’s cultural significance and redefining it as a world-class city. It will also be a huge feather in the caps of its organizers and promoters, who just recently won a hard battle to move the festival to its new location, Woodward Park.

For the past week and a half, a crew of volunteers has been setting up the section of Woodward Park that will host the event. It will include two stages, a Grizzly Grove (where yet more acts will be found), a beer garden, an art village, and a food truck court.

By the time headliner Snoop Dogg wraps up the festival Saturday night, 30 acts (including artists well outside of the hip-hop genre) will have preceded him. This remarkable feat of organization can be credited to local hip-hop enthusiasts Aren and Vartan Hekimian and their IAN Group, comprised of a group of their best friends, who shared the dream of bringing a world-class music festival—like the kind they used to have to travel hundreds of miles to experience—right here to Fresno.

Stephen Mayu, Jr. is one of the Hekimian brothers’ best friends and a co-conspirator in the IAN Group, which organizes and promotes Grizzly Fest. In a phone interview this week, Stephen gave me some pointers on how best to experience Grizzly Fest. He also shed some light on what it takes to make such a big dream come true in Fresno.

The fantasy that would grow into Grizzly Fest dawned years ago when Aren was managing local hip-hop phenomenon Fashawn, ultimately helping him get signed to Mass Appeal Records, connect with NYC rap artist Nas, and rise to national renown. “During that time there was just a vision of having a festival,” Stephen explains, “because we used to go to the Rock the Bells Festival.” Rock the Bells was held between 2004 and 2006 in Southern California before it started touring the country, eventually drawing Aren, Stephen, and company to New York City.

In 2013, the first Grizzly Fest happened and, since then, the team at IAN Group has strived to make each year’s successive incarnation bigger than and different from those which came before. “People don’t like monotony, so you want to change and be more worthwhile, bringing in better artists.” Switching to a two-day event was also part of the agenda for 2018.

road to Grizzly Fest — Past Grizzly Fests took place at Chukchansi Park but this year it will take advantage of a true festival atmosphere at Woodward Park. [photo courtesy of Grizzly Fest]

Why a move to Woodward was necessary

The crew also decided that 2018 would be the year to change the event’s setting. For the past few years Chukchansi Park has been the venue for Grizzly Fest, but this year the guys wanted to find the perfect field for a proper music festival. “We drove around town, drove out of town to some places, trying to find places that would be accommodating,” Stephen says of the scouting expedition. But ultimately Woodward Park spoke to them.

What makes a field more desirable than a stadium? Aside from the aesthetics of being in a large, open field surrounded by trees, the major factor, as Stephen sees it, is “no seats, man… you’re free to roam.” In a stadium, the crowd ends up in seats; instead of feeling like part of the action, they’re looking down on it. “If you go to a festival, if you’re sitting in a seat, that kind of becomes a concert, in essence,” Stephen explains. The beauty of a festival is that event goers are occupying the same field as the artists and moving around interacting with everyone, so there’s more of a sense of involvement and community, of being in the crowd. With a vendor village, a beer garden, an art display, two stages, and a Grizzly Grove, as well as food trucks galore, there will be plenty to see and lots of reasons to roam.

While Woodward Park was a perfect solution for the organizers, there were still plenty of hurdles to surmount in the planning of this year’s Grizzly Fest. Fresno City Council members Garry Bredefeld and Steve Brandau, representing residents of districts within earshot of the park, fought the proposal to move the festival to Woodward Park. Neighbors worried about traffic jams, parking problems, and other potential disturbances. However, the Chamber of Commerce had the organizers’ backs, agreeing that Grizzly Fest would be a boon for Fresno’s economy.

The boys kept their cool throughout the process, sticking to their guns and avoiding mudslinging. Ultimately the council agreed, approving the move to Woodward. Stephen believes that people who might now be unsure of what to expect from a music festival in Woodward Park will eventually come to an appreciation of what he and his friends are doing. “I just think that any time you do something new, you’re gonna face opposition, and you have to educate people [and show them] you can stand by what you say you’re gonna do.” Stephen believes the festival will draw people into the valley, and that they in turn will “buy into our infrastructure and economy.”

“We’re just trying to increase people’s appetites for something that’s new, and in doing that, we’re growing,” Stephen says, noting that he’s got friends and acquaintances coming in from such far-flung locales as Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. “People are coming,” he states.

Speaking to the larger significance of the festival experience, Stephen says, “It’s community. This is something that Fresno can hang its hat on and say, ‘Now we have a festival.’” One that’s capable of drawing not only locals but also valley outsiders, and it’s good for the economy. “If the Bay Area can do it, if L.A. can do it, if Sacramento can do it, we can do it as well. So that’s just what we’re doing… we’re just trying to continue to put Fresno on the map in a good way. Because a lot of talk of Fresno is like ‘there’s nothing to do.’ Well, here’s something that’s more than good that you can be a part of.”

Grizzly Fest details

What do attendees of Grizzly Fest need to know? “Just come have a good time, first and foremost,” Stephen says. “Get there on time. It’s gonna be packed.” He also recommends: “Drink lots of water, bring a hat, suntan lotion.”

There’s also an interesting list of what not to bring to the festival, including the obvious (weapons, alcohol) and the maybe not-so-obvious (selfie sticks, strollers, drones). Attendees might want to read this in advance to avoid any hassles with security.

More information, including a full schedule and directions to the festival, is available on the Grizzly Fest website. You can also follow Grizzly Fest on Instagram.

Tickets may still be purchased online or at the Will Call Location, 192 East Via Del Parque #184, in River Park (next to Coney Island Grill).

The full schedule for Grizzly Fest 2018 can be viewed here.

Gates open at 2 p.m. both days. The lineup runs as follows: