Overview California Roots is a three-day reggae and roots-rock festival over Memorial Day weekend at the Monterey County Fairgrounds, the ground where the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival ran, and its bills have carried Rebelution, Slightly Stoopid, Damian Marley, Nas, Ice Cube and Wu-Tang Clan. Jeff Monser started it in 2010 as a one-day show; Dan Sheehan joined early and booked the reggae acts that grew it to three days. Good Vibez Presents produces it. The site runs two stages and two VIP lounges, with an after-dark lounge of fire dancers and live painting, yoga sessions and an art and wine retreat alongside the music. On site The festival runs a free bike and skate valet at the gate, sells steel pints and Nalgene bottles in place of single-use cups, and requires every vendor, concession, caterer and hospitality area to serve on compostable greenware. Single-use plastic bottles and straws are banned across the grounds. The festival map marks golf course parking and a rideshare zone. Audience Fans buy into the refill system: through REVERB's Rock n' Refill program the festival had sold more than 47,000 reusable pint cups and Nalgene bottles, and its valet had parked 4,755 bikes and skateboards. Redwood VIP tickets have come with a redwood seedling planted in the holder's name. Talent and Influencers Dirty Heads and Tribal Seeds played the first year in 2010. Slightly Stoopid, Rebelution and Matisyahu led in 2013, and Rebelution, Nas and Dirty Heads in 2017. The 2023 bill had Rebelution, Wu-Tang Clan and Stick Figure at the top, and 2024 brought E-40 and Too Short, Damian Marley, Rebelution and Ice Cube. Track record The 2020 festival was pushed to October and then canceled, and 2021 was canceled, both for COVID-19. The greening program has tallies of its own: more than 10,400 redwood seedlings planted, more than 688,000 single-use cups and bottles kept out of the waste stream, 22.5 million pounds of carbon offset across a seven-year partnership with Trip Zero, 68,880 pounds of compost sent to local vineyards and more than 111 tons of recyclables collected with Blue Strike Environmental. Its nonprofit program, started in 2016, had raised tens of thousands of dollars. Brand presence Every package is built to order. The festival's sponsorship menu runs from an exclusive stage sponsorship, the livestream and the VIP lounges to contests and giveaways, the greening program, canned water, wine and spirits, hotel and media partnerships. Deep Eddy, Monster, Cutwater, Casamigos, Weedmaps and Nalgene appear on the festival's own page of past partners.