Ukulele (and other) fun for the whole family!

August 18 – 24, 2012

at The Lair of the Golden Bear

Pinecrest, California

Motorhomes and walk-ins welcome!

Please visit the website for more information.

September 7, 8, & 9, 2012

If you’re planning on joining us, you should make your lodging arrangements as soon as possible.  It’s a very popular, and beautiful, ime of year here in the Napa Valley.

And don’t forget, registration closes February 14 for Camp Oo-Koo-Lay-Lay, August 18-24, the first ever, ukulele summer camp for the entire family, held in the beauiful Sierra Nevada.  It’s the most fun you’ll have with your ukulele on! Be sure to check out the website for more information. You can uke as much as want (or not at all) and enjoy everything this summer camp has to offer. . .including free babysitting and lots of other actities for the not-so-uke inclined. Remember, you must register by Feburary 14.  That’s firm……

www.CampOoKooLayLay.com

And last, but never least, there are still a few spaces left at Asilomar for the 2nd West Coast Ukulele Retreat, with an impressive line-up of instructors from across the country. If you haven’t visited that web page in awhile, you should pay another visit to see who and what we’ve added. If we’re out of rooms by the time you register, you can always come as a “walk-in,” but you risk missing half the (unscheduled) fun.

Hope to see you here or there……..

Six full days of ukulele fun and campfire merriment for less than $800 per person! (Special family rates are also available).

Register by January 31 to assure yourself a place in one of our uke-centric tent circles.  (Less “rustic” lodging and motor-home hook-ups are also available.)

Please visit the Camp Oo-Koo-Lay-Lay website for more information.

Registration is now open for the 2012 West Coast Ukulele Retreat to be held at Asilomar in Pacific Grove, May 16 – 20.

We’ve got another stunning line-up of instructors:

Andy Andrews, Mike DaSilva, Jim D’Ville,

Joel Eckhaus, Dave Egan, Fred Fallin,

Fred Sokolow, Gerald Ross and more. 

and three solid days of workshops that’ll knock your socks of!

Register by December 16 and get the early bird discount plus a special commemorative thank-you gift. 

Hope to see you there!

May 16 – 20, 2012

The return of the West Coast ‘Ukulele Retreat at Asilomar in Pacific Grove, California. 

Bigger and better than last year, with some of our old friends in residence and a few new ones, plus, we hope, an exciting international contingent we’ll tell you more about later! Registration will open soon, so stay tuned.  And if you haven’t already subscribed to the retreat’s website, be sure to do that now so you stay abreast of all the latest developments.

August 18 – 24, 2012

Camp Oo-Koo-Lay-Lay, ukulele summer camp for the entire family, at Pine Crest in the central Sierra. 

 “Hello Muddah.  Hello Fadduh.” Join Jim D’Ville and a full cast of dedicated instructor/musicians, to make your week at ukulele summer camp everything you ever dreamed of and more.  There will be swimming and sailing and ukulele; boating and hiking and ‘ukulele; arts and crafts and ‘ukulele; camp fires and talent shows and ukulele. Bring the kids.  Better yet, bring the whole darn family. There will plenty to keep you busy with or without ukulele. Even if you don’t have a family to bring, come along by yourself and find one there. And, if you have small kids or grandchildren, bring them as well.  “Childcare” will be provided for the little ones as well as a plethora of activities for kids of all other ages…even teen agers! We will be posting more information about Camp Oo-Koo-Lay-Lay soon, so stay tuned.  But do save the dates.  There will only be a limited number of spaces available, and priority in future years will be given to returning campers.

September 7, 8, 9, 2012

The 5th annual Wine Country ‘Ukulele Festival.  Need we say more?

We’ve got a few more things up our sleeves, so stay tuned. In the meantime, stay safe, play well, sing loud, and enjoy the rest of the year.

In the mean time, here’s a little recap of this year’s festival, filmed and produced by Jim D’Ville, to hold you over.

We are looking for more videos and photographs of the weekend to post on this website, so if you have any, please let send ‘em along.

In the meantime, stay safe, stay tuned, and we’ll see you next year!

There are still tickets available to this very fun, very casual event in St. Helena, featuring the one, and only, Flea by Night Band.  You can purchase them online up until 10 pm on Friday (September 9). (No actual ticket will be issued, but you will check-in at the door) Tickets to this event will also be sold at the Napa Valley Opera House on Friday night, at the festival on Saturday, and at the door.

Vineland Station is between Brassica (Cindy Pawclyn’s brand new restaurant, which was Go Fish! up until last week!) and the Napa Valley Soap Company, at 633 Main Street.  There is plenty of parking behind the Napa Valley Soap Company.  Please do not park in the restaurant’s parking lot.

Free Lessons for Kids

Please help spread the word to any budding ukulele enthusiasts you might know that we are offering free lessons for kids on Saturday and Sunday at 12:15 (ages 8 – 10) and 2:30 (ages 11 – 13), courtesy of Ohana Ukuleles. Group lessons are about an hour long and sign-ups will be at the festival information booth.

Parking at the Festival

The parking lot at the college (remember it is the UPPER VALLEY CAMPUS of Napa Valley College, in St. Helena) has room for about 133 cars.  If that lot is full, there is plenty of parking on College Avenue, after you pass the entrance to the college. (There is no parking on the street between Pope Street and the entrance to the college.)

The Montessori School (under construction), at the end of College Avenue, has also given us permission to use their parking lot.

Even so, we ask that you please use every opportunity you can to car pool or use public transportation.  The Vine, our local bus service, has a stop right in front of the college.

Workshop Registration

Will Call, for those folks who have pre-registered for workshops, will open at 9am.

If you have not pre-registered, you will be able to do so at the Opera House Friday night or at the festival.  Registration will open at 9am.  We strongly urge you to bring a completed registration form with you to help speed up the process.

Please note that we have added a new workshop to the line-up on Saturday, Session 3.  Ken Middleton will be teaching “What to Strum and When to Pick,” for levels 1 – 3. Again, we thank Ohana Ukuleles for bringing Ken to the festival this year, all the way from England!  If you are not taking one of his workshops, you will be able to meet Ken at the Ohana booth.

Food at the Festival

So far as we know, there are only three options for food right at the festival: the pre-ordered box lunches, Taylor’s Tiki Bar (ice-cold drinks, packaged fruit & nut snacks, cookies, chips, candy bars and beef jerky), and Auntie Edie’s Breakfast Bar (freshly brewed Peet’s coffee, hot tea, and freshly baked goodies from the Model Bakery).  

There’s a possibility that one of our local taco trucks will make a stop at the festival. 

The college is quite close to St. Helena’s Main Street and a plethora of restaurants and shops (we recommend Sunshine Market, Azteca Market, Model Bakery, and Taylor’s Refresher (aka Gott’s).

Dr. Uke

Mike Da Silva (Da Silva Ukuleles) will be joining us at the festival again this year in his usual, helpful capacity.  This is such a treat as Mike is in the midst of a move to Hawai’i!  But, he will still be joining us to do what he loves best: teaching beginners and helping folks get the most out of their instruments in his capacity as Dr. Uke.

Ukulele Flea Market

Don’t forget to clean out your attic and bring those old, loved ukuleles to the  Festival to sell at the Flea Market. The consignment fee is a mere 20% and our friendly staff will be keeping watch over them and doing their best to make a sale!  While you’re at it, don’t forget to visit the other vendors for the latest, and greatest in ukulele-ware.

James Hill & Friends

There are just a few tickets left to the VIP reception (part of the $50 ticket price) before the concert at the Opera House on Friday Night. This is going to be a very special evening as James will be accompanied  by Anne Davison, who collaborated with James on the award-winning CD,  True Love Don’t Weep. Lil’Rev, Gerald Ross, and Aaron Keim will also be joining James on the stage.  Tickets are available through the Napa Valley Opera House.

Festival Stage

And finally, the line-up of talent apearring on the festival stage is now available on line.  The indefatigable Andy Andrews will again be performing in his favorite role as MC and general ukulele facilitator. The festival is free to attend, but before occupying any of the “preferred seating” available for the concert, we ask that you please purchase a festival wristband ($15 only) to help support the live music coming your way.  Your $15 also includes 3 raffle tickets, so you might just come away with a brand-new ukulele on top of it!

If you have not yet purchased your tickets for the James Hill & Friends concert at the Napa Valley Opera House, you might want to do that as soon as possible.  Tickets are $25, $35, and $50.

The $50 tickets include the VIP reception before the concert (6:30 – 7:30pm) and are going quickly.  

You can purchase tickets online, or by calling the box office at (707)226-7372.

Here’s a list of some of the wineries that will be pouring wine for us at the reception:

Flora Springs

Guilliams Vineyards

Judd’s Hill

Miner Family Vineyards

Velo Vino

We’ll also have non-alcoholic Wine Country Sodas from Vignette.

Nibbles (not quite “dinner,” but still plenty to eat) to accompany the wine will be provided by:

Coonrad’s, From Napa, Gary & Kit’s, Olivier Napa Valley, Wine Country Cheese Mouse, and more…..

Mya-Moe, our major sponsor for the evening,  will also be on hand with a display of their beautiful, hand-built ‘ukuleles.

Thank you, too,  to the Napa Valley Opera House, Mya Moe Ukuleles, Westin Verasa, and the Napa Valley Marriott, for helping make this happen.

If you have not yet registered for the festival, the event at the opera house provides the next opportunity to do so.  Ken Middleton (courtesy of Ohana Ukuleles) has graciously offered to add another workshop to our Saturday line-up (session 3): What to Strum and When to Pick. So, even though a few of our workshops are now closed, we will still have plenty for you to choose from. 

If you are planning on registering at the festival Saturday morning, we suggest you arrive early, with your paperwork already filled out.  We will open the doors at 9am, though no one will be admitted to the festival before 10:00am,  unless they are pre-registered or have a festival wristband. Your cooperation on this will be greatly appreciated. Workshops will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis.

See you soon!

Or do you, or a loved one, have a serious case of UAS (Ukulele Acquisition Syndrome)?

Then you won’t want to miss the Ukulele Flea Market, at the Wine Country ‘Ukulele Festival.

If you have ukuleles and/or related accessories that you would like to sell, bring them by the consignment booth anytime after 9:30am on Saturday morning.  We will have a little bit of paperwork for you to fill out and that’s it. Our super-friendly staff will take care of the rest and do their best to sell your stuff while you enjoy the rest of the festival. (If you have an ukulele stand you might want to  bring it so we can show off your uke to it’s best advantage.) You can pick up your cash (and/or unsold goodies) anytime before 5:00 pm on Sunday.

If you’re in the market for a new, old uke, come prepared. All sales will be on a cash-only basis. 

This is another Wine Country ‘Ukulele Festival first. We hope you’ll take advantage of it!

For a complete list of workshops with space available please click one of the following links:

Saturday Workshops

Sunday Workshops

We will have registration forms available at the festival. However, in order to expedite registration at the festival, we ask that you please fill out the  2011 Walk-in Registration Form ahead of time and bring it with you. You will not be able to get into the Registration Line until this form is filled out.

For more information on registering at the festival, please visit the website. 

See you soon!