ABOUT SPIRIT WEST COAST

Spirit West Coast was the name given to two annual Christian music festivals that were 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 Christian music festivals in the southwestern United States. Thanks to the mild-climate, coastal locations, and the quality of the host properties, the festivals were considered 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 huge, famous raceway property located just nine miles from Monterey Bay. The Monterey event ran for sixteen years (no event in 2012). For many reasons, including the location, the large variety of popular performing artists, speakers and activities, the organizer’s attention to logistics, and the creation of a fan-friendly atmosphere, many artists, agents and Christian music insiders considered the Monterey festival the highest-quality Christian music festival in the country. 

SAN DIEGO FESTIVAL (2004 – 2012) 

After seven successful years in Monterey, a Southern California festival was launched in 2004 at the spacious Del Mar Fairgrounds in San Diego County. Thousands of fans from Southern California were coming to Monterey each summer, so providing Southern California, Arizona and Southern Nevada Christian music fans a closer location gave them an opportunity to experience the same dynamic combination of music and ministry that was in Monterey. The Del Mar festival, located literally blocks from the ocean, was always held over Memorial Day weekend and was last held in 2012 (no event in 2011). Since each festival had its own nuances, character and charm, it was common that many people enjoyed attending both. 

ARTISTS, SPEAKERS, PROGRAMMING

Through the years Spirit West Coast featured many of the biggest names in contemporary Christian music, including: Michael W. Smith, MercyMe, Casting Crowns, DC Talk, Third Day, Newsboys, Chris Tomlin and dozens of rock bands.  In total, several hundred artists, speakers and comedians participated in the event’s vast variety of programming. (See the “list of artists/performers on this website under the History, Legacy, Newspaper Articles section).  

Beyond the music, the events featured contemporary Bible teaching and life application messages by well-known, gifted speakers including Josh McDowell, Greg Laurie, Luis Palau,  and Charles Stanley. Each event included action sports activities, a large shopping exhibit hall, a children’s ministry venue complete with petting zoo, food booths and vendors, all in a county fair atmosphere.  Well over 50 music artists appeared at each festival, performing on the 6 to 8 different stages and delivering a wide variety of music styles. The speakers and teachers provided ministry for all ages and at every festival attendees were spiritually encouraged and provided opportunities to accept and trust Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. SWC was overtly evangelistic with “altar calls” occurring almost nightly, resulting in hundreds of responses. To get a sense of the event’s broad and extensive programming see copies of the Festival’s programs in the Posters & Programs  section of this website. 

VOLUNTEERS & CAMPING 

One of the unusual aspects of the Spirit West Coast festivals was the participation of up to 900 volunteers, serving in 40 different departments and areas of operation ranging from stage production, food service, camping management and traffic control to security, transportation, general store and children’s ministry. One of the reasons the event founders and producers Celebration Concerts organized Spirit West Coast as a nonprofit organization was out of consider for the sacrificial commitment and time contribution of the volunteers, especially the leadership team. SWC was “owned” by the 501(C) (3) nonprofit organization Christian Music Today. 

The scale of the camping operation at each event was extraordinary; Monterey alone offered 2,000 rustic, separate camp sites, not “campers” but 2,000 camp sites (8 people max per site). Virtually all the sites were “unimproved, dry sites”, but groups, friends and families seemed to adjust to “roughing-it.”  

GRADUAL DECLINE

Each Spirit West Coast always operated at a high level of financial expense, consistently delivering an abundance of entertainment, programming and ministry options and “festival experience” value to the ticket buying customers. The budget for each event exceeded $1,000,000 but the large number of ticket buying customers kept the annual events afloat. Beginning with the Great Depression of 2007-2009, attendance began to drop-off and when the price of gas first hit $4 in 2008 SWC began to feel the pinch. For SWC’s remaining years each festival lost money. Due to good stewardship by the organization’s leadership, and donations by a small number of financial supporters, the organization and events were able to sustain through those last years, continuing to provide the festival experience to thousands. The financial reserves eventually ran out and the fund raising initiatives were unable to keep up with the ever increasing expenses and loses so the organization’s leadership knew it was time to discontinue. (For additional information on the general decline of Christian music festivals nationally, listen to a podcast interview with SWC Director Jon Robberson. 

FINAL YEARS & LEGACY 

The last 3-day festival in Del Mar was presented in 2012 and the final Monterey festival was held in 2013. From 2014 – 2021, the Spirit West Coast name was applied to single-day events at the Concord Pavilion in the Bay Area, co-produced by Transparent Productions and SWC. In total there were 24 three-day, camping oriented festivals presented in Del Mar and Monterey, with an accumulative, “pass through the gates” attendance of well over 400,000. 

Countless lives were spiritually impacted because of the ministry of Spirit West Coast. Like the camp meetings, summer camps and large crusades of past generations, the full impact of Spirit

West Coast will only be known in eternity. As is always the case, when the Holy Spirit changes lives, and people encounter God’s love and salvation, there is always a time and a place. For many that time and place was at the Spirit West Coast festivals.