ABOUT - the History of Spirit West Coast

      Spirit West Coast was the name given to two annual Christian music festivals held in California from 1997 to 2013. The three-day events took place in Monterey and San Diego, two well-known West Coast tourist destinations, and became the largest and only multi-day, camping centric Christian music festivals in the southwestern United States. Thanks to their mild coastal climates, scenic locations, and the unique, enjoyable attributes of the host venue properties, the festivals were widely regarded as two of the premier Christian music festivals in the country.

MONTEREY FESTIVAL (1997 – 2013)

The first Spirit West Coast debuted in Monterey in 1997 at the Laguna Seca Recreation Area, a large, world-famous raceway complex and county park, located just nine miles from Monterey Bay. The Monterey event was held for sixteen years (with no festival in 2012). For many reasons—including its coastal location, the wide variety and large number of popular performing artists and speakers, myriad activity options, the organizers' attention to logistics, and  a fan-friendly, family atmosphere—many artists, agents, and Christian music industry insiders considered the Monterey festival one of the highest-quality Christian music festivals in the country.

MONTEREY’S BEGINNINGS & EARLY YEARS

The attendance response to the first festival in 1997 was overwhelming, as 12,000 people —most of them campers — converged on the expansive, somewhat rustic property.  So many campers “rolled-in” during the Wednesday’s opening day check-in that the festival ran out of available campsites and was forced to turn away several dozen late-arriving campers. Overnight, the festival management team identified additional areas that could be opened and designated as campsites. By the following morning — the festival’s official opening day on July 31, 1997 — all of the campers who were turned away the night before were accommodated.

Although the festival's largely novice leadership team had never managed an event of this magnitude before, there were naturally some unexpected logistical challenges that first year. However, the public was generally unaware of the behind-the-scenes issues, and everyone had a wonderful, Jesus loving time. The extensive schedule of performances slotted over the three days went-off as planned, including nightly headline concerts by Newsboys, Jars of Clay, and Michael W. Smith. God richly blessed the event in many ways, and the overwhelming response from attendees was, "We'll be back next year."

As the years passed, attendance at the Monterey festivals averaged between 12,000 and 15,000 people, and the logistical flow and overall management of the festivals improved each year. Additional programming and activity options were introduced annually, the number of volunteers continued to grow, and each festival ran more smoothly than the one before.

Preparing Laguna Seca for three days of temporary occupation by thousands was like building a small town. The temporary site included a general store, food booths, shopping areas, a portable grandstand seating area, security operations, dozens of portable restrooms, and even portable shower facilities brought in by Spirit West Coast management.  

The Laguna Seca property was an unimproved site with no permanent buildings, so festival management erected several very large tents at a cost in the mid-six-figures. Festival management recognized the importance of providing covered venues where attendees could escape the sun and, at times, the cool breezy weather. These tents also served as “indoor” venues for the so-called “Laguna Late Night” acoustic concerts and comedy shows held after the county’s 10:00 p.m. outdoor sound curfew.

The Camp Meeting Tent alone covered 20,000 square feet and had a seating capacity of 3,000 seats (see the photo gallery on this website). The Exhibit Tent was also exceptionally large, accommodating dozens of exhibitors and the artist merchandise sales area. The Exhibit Tent also featured a designated area where artists held popular autograph signings for fan.

Providing electricity for the festival’s temporary infrastructure and lighting throughout the grounds required running hundreds of yards of power cabling and multiple high-output generators, all of which were brought in and managed by the festival’s skilled volunteer electrical team. The extensive temporary infrastructure facilities were one of the festival’s largest expenses.

Many attendees traveled great distances to participate, and there was always a strong contingent from outside California. A survey of those coming from others states showed over twenty different states being represented; local hotels and restaurants loved Spirit West Coast! Monterey’s cool summer climate was especially appealing to people from regions where the summer temperatures are hotter. California’s Central Valley, in particular, turned out in droves to escape the heat. The largest attendance year was in 2001 when 22,000 came to see DC Talk headline on the Saturday night, following the closing performance by Newsboys on Friday and Jaci Velasquez on Thursday. On 2000’s closing day 18,000 turned-out to see Michael W. Smith.

SAN DIEGO FESTIVAL (2004 – 2012)

After seven successful years in Monterey, a Southern California festival was launched in 2004 at the spacious and picturesque Del Mar Fairgrounds in San Diego County. Thousands of fans from Southern California had been traveling to Monterey each summer, so providing Christian music fans in Southern California, Arizona, and Southern Nevada with a closer location gave them the opportunity to experience the same dynamic combination of music and ministry that had made the Monterey festival so popular and successful.

The Del Mar festival, located just blocks from the Pacific Ocean, was always held over Memorial Day weekend and was last presented in 2012 (no festival in 2011). Unlike Monterey, the Del Mar venue featured several large buildings and a permanent, semi-covered grandstand with a seating capacity of over 10,000, all of which provided a fabulous setting for the festival’s Main Stage.

In some respects, the Del Mar property was a more comfortable and accommodating festival site than the unimproved Laguna Seca property in Monterey. Although the Monterey and Del Mar festivals shared the same overall vision, purpose and format, each developed its own distinct personality, character, and charm. As a result, many attendees made it a tradition to attend both festivals each year.

ARTISTS, SPEAKERS, PROGRAMMING

Through the years, Spirit West Coast featured many of the biggest names in contemporary Christian music, including Michael W. Smith, MercyMe, TobyMac, Casting Crowns, DC Talk, Third Day, Newsboys, Audio Adrenaline, Chris Tomlin, and multiple dozens of rock bands. The festival was always committed to reaching young people, as evidenced by its booking a broad spectrum of cutting-edge bands such as Skillet, Switchfoot, The Supertones, Thousand Foot Krutch, Kutless, Hawk Nelson and others. 

Both the Monterey and Del Mar festivals featured top professional comedians each year, comics including Taylor Mason, Bone Hampton, Paul Aldrich, Thor Ramsey, and perennial favorite Bob Smiley, who also served as the Main Stage emcee. 

In total, over seven hundred artists, speakers, and comedians participated in the festivals' wide variety of programming. (See the "List of Artists/Performers" in the History → Legacy → Newspaper Articles section of this website.)

Beyond the music, the festivals featured contemporary Bible teaching and practical life-application messages by well-known speakers, including Josh McDowell, Greg Laurie, Luis Palau, Charles Stanley and many others. Each festival featured three Main Stage speakers and several additional teachers/speakers. Each event also included action sports and huge inflatable “ride” structures, a large shopping and exhibit area, a children's ministry “kiddies’ park” complete with a petting zoo, a variety of food booths, and numerous other attractions, all contributing to a family-friendly, county fair atmosphere.

More than 50 music artists typically appeared at each festival, performing on six to eight stages and representing a wide variety of musical styles. The speakers and teachers ministered to attendees of all ages, and at every festival people were encouraged in their faith while also being given opportunities to place their trust in Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. Spirit West Coast was intentionally evangelistic, with invitation “altar calls” to respond to the Gospel presented nightly, resulting in hundreds of professions of faith and commitment rededications over the years.

To gain a sense of the festivals' broad and extensive programming, see the copies of the festival programs in the Posters & Programs section of this website.

VOLUNTEERS & CAMPING

One of the unique aspects of the Spirit West Coast festivals was the participation of as many as 900 volunteers per festival, who served in more than 40 departments and areas of operation. Their responsibilities ranged from stage production, food service, campground management, and traffic control to security, transportation, the general store, children's ministry and others.

The importance of the volunteers cannot be over emphasized, especially the department leaders and organization’s board. For a list of each year’s departments and their respective leaders see the copies of the programs in the Poster & Programs section on this website.

One of the primary reasons the founders and producers of Spirit West Coast—Celebration Concerts—organized the festivals as a nonprofit ministry was to honor the sacrificial commitment and countless hours contributed by the volunteers, especially those serving in leadership positions.

The scale of the camping operation at each festival was extraordinary. The Monterey festival alone offered approximately 2,000 individual campsites—not 2,000 campers, but 2,000 separate campsites—with a maximum occupancy of eight people and one vehicle per site. Nearly all of the Monterey campsites were unimproved pieces of ground, yet families, church groups, and friends camping together embraced the camaraderie of "roughing it” as part of the overall festival experience.

GRADUAL DECLINE

Each Spirit West Coast festival required a substantial financial commitment and investment, consistently providing an exceptional combination of entertainment, programming, ministry opportunities, and overall festival value for attendees. The operating budget for each festival well exceeded $1 million, but strong attendance enabled the events to remain financially viable for many years.

Beginning with the Great Recession of 2007–2009, attendance gradually declined, and about the time California’s gasoline prices first climbed above $4 per gallon in 2008, Spirit West Coast began to feel the financial impact. From 2008 on through the remaining years, in spite of severe budget tightening, every Monterey and Del Mar festival operated at a large financial loss but did not compromise the programming.

Through careful stewardship by the organization's leadership and the generosity of a small number of faithful financial supporters, Spirit West Coast was able to continue for several more years, providing spiritual value and its unique festival experience to thousands of attendees despite mounting financial difficulties and challenges.

Eventually, however, the organization's financial reserves were exhausted, and fundraising efforts could no longer keep pace with steadily increasing operating expenses and mounting annual losses. To improve financial sustainability and reduce risk, beginning in 2011 the organization began holding only one festival per year in alternating locations: Monterey in 2011, Del Mar in 2012, and the final Monterey festival in 2013.

Recognizing that the ministry could no longer be sustained responsibly, the leadership made the difficult decision to discontinue the multi-day festivals. Spirit West Coast’s leadership was grateful for God’s provision and recognized His many blessings. Throughout SWC’s 17-year history and two-dozen three-day festivals, the ministry organization never borrowed money, never incurred debt, and concluded the multi-day, camping-centric era with all its financial obligations fully met.

FINAL YEARS, THE SINGLE-DAY ERA, LEGACY

The final three-day Spirit West Coast festival in Del Mar was presented in 2012, and the last Monterey festival was held in 2013. From 2014 through 2021, Spirit West Coast events continued through a series of scaled-back, single-day events at the Concord Pavilion in the East San Francisco Bay Area and at various locations in Southern California. During this period, single-day SWC events were presented annually at the arena in Ontario and at the Del Mar Fairgrounds in 2015, 2016 and 2018.

These single-day events featured top-tier talent lineups including SWC headlining favorites Toby Mac, MercyMe, Third Day, Newsboys and others, and were primarily produced and managed by Transparent Productions, with the SWC team serving in a co-producing role. Each of the more than one dozen single-day events included a spiritually encouraging evangelistic message, resulting in many life-impacting, spiritually fruitful results. SWC’s commitment to missions through Compassion International also continued during the single-day era, resulting in hundreds of children being released from poverty in Jesus’ name through child sponsorships. 

Perhaps the most enduringministry legacy of Spirit West Coast is the lasting impact it made on children in developing countries through child sponsorships initiated at the festivals and lovingly facilitated by Compassion International. Because of the love and generosity of thousands of attendees, more than 15,000 boys and girls were sponsored, helping to release them from poverty while providing them with the opportunity to learn about the love of Jesus.

From its very first festival until its final event, Spirit West Coast remained steadfastly committed to the ministry of Compassion International (see the Legacy section of this website).

In all, 24 three-day, camping-oriented festivals were presented in Monterey and Del Mar, with a cumulative "through-the-gates" attendance of well over 400,000 people. The dozen single-day concerts also drew strong crowds, with a cumulative attendance exceeding 100,000.

Countless lives were spiritually impacted through the ministry of Spirit West Coast. Like the camp meetings and large evangelistic crusades of previous generations, the full impact of Spirit West Coast will be known only in eternity. Whenever the Holy Spirit changes lives and people encounter God's love, grace, and salvation, there is always a time and a place. For many, that time and place was a Spirit West Coast festival.

This website stands as a memorial testament to the miracle God provided, Spirit West Coast, and to the many individuals who supported the ministry through prayer, finances, and selfless volunteer service. The full impact of Spirit West Coast will not be fully realized until eternity. To God be the glory!

Notes:

(a) See the Legacy section of this website for information about how God used SWC in various associated ministry capacities.

(b) For additional information about the nationwide decline of Christian music festivals listen to the podcast interview with SWC Director Jon Robberson.

(c) Spirit West Coast was owned and operated by Christian Music Today!, a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization. Christian Music Today! (CMT) was also the name of a direct mail quarterly Christian music newspaper, with a circulation of up to 35,000 that was published and distributed by Celebration Concerts from 1983 until the late 1990s. For more info on the Christian Music Today! newspaper, see the Celebration Concerts section of this website under the listing “Newspapers about Celebration Concerts”.