San Diego's Wonderfront festival acquired
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Wonderfront Music & Arts Festival on the downtown waterfron. Photo: Events.com
San Diego's Wonderfront Music & Arts Festival has been acquired by Events.com, a La Jolla-based events marketing and management company.
Why it matters: After a bumpy start, Wonderfront has emerged as San Diego's preeminent festival, bringing 42,000 people to the waterfront last year for a three-day, mutli-genre event.
Driving the news: Events.com has been associated with Wonderfront from the beginning, first as an equity sponsor and then as an equity partner, and is now its outright owner.
- Paul Thornton, Wonderfront founder and executive producer, said the company's financial resources and marketing expertise will help it continue to establish an international draw.
- "When we go on sale for Wonderfront, we're on banner ads in 2,000 cities across the country through them," he said.
The intrigue: Wonderfront could release the 2025 lineup as early as next week, though it could wait until January to avoid getting lost in the holiday season, and Thornton said it's the biggest yet by far.
- "A couple of the big agencies with artists now have labeled us a 'tastemaker festival,' which is that upper echelon of what they want to put every artist on," he said.
What's new: The biggest change for next year is pushing the festival back a week, so it's no longer on Mother's Day, which hurt attendance on Sunday last year.
- They're also adding more gates, after suffering from long lines to get in on Friday, and they've created a GA+ ticket with its own entry, plus a private bathroom and lounge.
- Festival organizers are expanding the footprint for Electric Lounge, a successful dance club area that will now feature bigger DJs.
The big picture: The festival industry suffered a severe downtown this year, with over 300 events going dark, but Thornton is imagining a bigger Wonderfront in the next five or so years.
- The main festival is constrained on the peninsula of the Embarcadero Park North, but they're taking up more space on nearby Ruocco Park in 2025, and are eyeing potential expansion along the waterfront to Petco Park and Hilton Bayfront Park.
The bottom line: "Five years from now, this could be like a South by Southwest, but with big venues instead of club venues," Thornton said.