FestivalSummer Jam 50Wonderland Forest
Summer Jam 50 Opens a New LaFayette Venue on the Watkins Glen Anniversary
Wonderland Forest stages its first event ever on July 28 and 29, 2023, fifty years to the day after the Watkins Glen Summer Jam, with Dark Star Orchestra recreating the Grateful Dead's set from that afternoon.
by
May 9, 2023
LAFAYETTE, N.Y. — Summer Jam 50 will be held July 28 and 29, 2023 at Wonderland Forest, a newly developed 500-acre campground and outdoor venue about 15 minutes south of Syracuse. It is the first event ever staged at the site.
The weekend marks 50 years since the July 28, 1973 Summer Jam at the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Track in Schuyler County, where The Allman Brothers Band, the Grateful Dead and The Band drew roughly 600,000 people.
Tickets go on sale May 11, 2023 at 12 p.m. ET through wonderlandforest.com.
Three bands, both nights, one songbook each
Dark Star Orchestra, Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country and The Weight Band each perform on both nights. Daniel Donato’s sets are built around the music of The Allman Brothers Band, and The Weight Band’s around the songbook of The Band.
Keyboardist Peter Levin, of the Gregg Allman Band, is billed alongside the three acts.
Friday’s program includes a recreation of the 1973 event’s day-before “Soundcheck.” The weekend then closes with Dark Star Orchestra playing a full two-set recreation of the Grateful Dead’s original July 28, 1973 Watkins Glen show.
A venue built for camping
Wonderland Forest sits at 4812 South Cook Road in LaFayette. The venue offers vintage RV rentals, private glamping and traditional camping, along with an indoor-outdoor event space called Gatsby Landing.
“We are honored to be hosting our first event at Wonderland Forest,” owner Dan Mastronardi said in the announcement.
A portion of proceeds from the weekend benefits The Allman Brothers Band Museum at The Big House in Macon, Georgia.
A second Upstate anniversary weekend in July
The anniversary lands in a busy stretch of the Upstate summer calendar. The 31st Finger Lakes GrassRoots Festival runs July 20 through 23 at the Trumansburg Fairgrounds, the week before Summer Jam 50 opens.
Sources: Jambands.com, NYS Music, JamBase.
Photo: Arkady Lifshits, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. Generic crowd image, not this event.
