How a Cal Poly friend group’s love of music inspired SLO’s biggest music festival

Ten years ago, a Cal Poly friend group’s love of music led them to throw an end-of-the-year party on Cuesta Ridge featuring live bands. The friends called that party “The Last Shabang,” and capped off the school year with a night of fun and live music.

Unbeknownst to them, that was hardly their last shabang.

Today, that party has turned into the Central Coast’s biggest music festival known as Shabang Music and Arts Festival.

Now held over the course of two days, Shabang hosts some of music’s biggest names and aims to “foster a community built on inclusion and creativity.” This year it’s scheduled to take over the Dairy Creek Golf Course in San Luis Obispo on May 3 and 4.

“We started this as a fluke and every little piece along the way has been some part serendipitous and some part the community’s work stepping up to help put the Central Coast music community on the map,” founding member and marketing director Greg Golf said in an interview with The Tribune.

On the leadership team, Golf is joined by co-founder Carson Stone, who acts as the director of partnerships and event operations; Alex Schwend, the festival’s site director; and music director Sawyer Whalen.

Together, the team works each year to plan and coordinate the two-day festival — all while working their normal nine-to-five day jobs.

“This festival started as a passion project that has never stopped,” Schwend said.

What goes into planning the SLO music festival?

Every member of the festival team focuses their attention on different aspects of the planning process.

Even though the festival has grown considerably over the last ten years, in many ways it still resembles its past and is largely DIY.

Schwend, who built the stages back when the festival was founded, continues to build the stages and many parts of the festival by hand — something Golf says is unique to Shabang.

Whalen works with a team to curate and select acts for the show’s two-day lineup.

While working to bring in big names in music, Whalen also aims to promote local talent.

The festival hosts annual Battle of the Bands competitions to allow local artists and bands to compete to get on the festival’s lineup. This year, the competitions are taking place in Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, San Luis Obispo and San Diego.

“Our main focus is curating the lineup towards our demographic and our audience, while still kind of keeping in mind where Shabang comes from and those indie-rock roots,” Whalen said.

Golf has taken on a variety of positions since the festival’s founding, but now operates fully in a marketing and promotional strategic position, he said.

Stone, the director of partnerships and event operations, works to partner with nearly 40 different local businesses and boutique vendors to provide food and merchandise at the festival.

Stone also works with volunteers, security and medics to ensure the safety of festival goers at the event.

According to Stone, the Shabang team works to partner and hire largely students from Cal Poly.

“We hire a lot of college students and put them in roles they might not otherwise get without years of experience,” he said.

What’s changed? A look at Shabang through the years

Over the years, the festival has seen some drastic changes.

“Looking back and seeing what changed blew all of our minds,” Golf said of the last Shabang in 2023. “We went from 20 people to 10,000 with multiple stages. But, we have seen a bunch of the same faces, which is really special.”

A chief thing that has changed over the years is the festival’s location.

After outgrowing their spot atop Cuesta Ridge, the friends made a connection in the city and moved the festival to Laguna Lake Park.

At that point, they were not charging an entrance fee and only asking for donations. All of the refreshments were sold by the founders themselves who walked around with coolers.

Eventually, the team was able to partner with local vendors so the founders could focus on other aspects of the massive event.

In 2022, the festival moved to its current location at Dairy Creek Golf Course in San Luis Obispo after the city recommended they find a bigger venue.

Shabang 2024: Headliners, camping and more

This year, for the first time, Shabang will allow festival goers to camp on the festival grounds overnight.

The lineup, which was announced on Jan. 23, includes indie rockers Peach Pit, Thundercat and Walker & Royce — some of the festival’s biggest names yet. The festival will also play host to over 30 other bands and artists, including local talent selected from Battle of the Bands competitions.

Over 40 vendors will offer food and merchandise. Some of the partnerships include local San Luis Obispo County businesses like Boo Boo Records and Sequel Cold Brew Tea.

Festival goers can visit the different booths while walking between the different music stages.

“The event is independently run by the same three guys who started it in the beginning,” Stone said. “We have just continued to build with the community. We are very community focused and have always tried to create the best experience for the fans so that they come back every year.”

More information

Shabang Music and Arts Festival will take place on May 3 and 4.

Tickets are available at shabangslo.com/tickets. Local businesses interested in partnering with Shabang, can email carson@shabangslo.com.