For many summers, General Hydroponics has been a major sponsor of the world’s largest reggae festival, in Humboldt, California. In the beginning, it was known as Reggae on the River, and in recent years was called Reggae Rising. The festival was the highlight of our events calendar. “Reggae” was the perfect party. Endless music and 20,000 of the nicest people you could ever meet. We stoked the crowd with free samples, gave away limited edition t-shirts, and partied non-stop all weekend. But, structural shifts have once again rocked the foundations of the festival.

In 2010, for the first time in 5 years, GH is not going to be up on the Eel River for a summer Reggae festival. Instead, we are going to branch out in new venues. We are still going to support all the festival fans as Reggae reworks it’s programming, by continuing with our sponorships. We will be making a return to Earthdance, heading to the East Coast for the Muddy River Jam Festival and we are very excited to announce a new event to our lineup, Power to the Peaceful. It is a unique, lively event unlike any other, held September 11 and 12th in Golden Gate Park. Like Reggae, it’s got great, consciousness raising music acts, but it has something Reggae never had, a skate ramp!!! We can’t wait to get the vans loaded and get out on the road! See you there!

Power to the Peaceful 2009 photo by Paul Devoto

According to their website, “Kiva is the world’s first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs around the globe . . .  [Y]ou are helping a real person make great strides towards economic independence and improve life for themselves, their family, and their community.”

It’s a great organization that empowers people through their own hard work. I am glad GH chose such a great organization to donate to with their awesome wearable art.

Road to Reggae Rising Part One

Road to Reggae Rising Part Two

Gen Hydro was promoting their new General Organics line, which is organic and vegan and works in soil, coco, and hydro.  They also had their traditional nutrient lines and supplements on hand to talk about.

The whole crew was really involved with customers and anyone that just wanted to hang out and talk about gardening.

The booth was really chill and was covered in the new art from the General Organics line.  GH reminds you, “Don’t just be seaweed, garden with seaweed“.

Here you see some more GH murals and the awesome annual Reggae Rising t-shirt, or lack thereof.

There were plenty of samples given out to customers on Sunday.  GH recommends Azamax for pests in your garden.

The music was off the hook.  Here is Lutan Fyah.  There were other world-renowned bands like Capleton, the Original Wailers, and Luciano.

This year’s Reggae Rising was amazing.  Be sure to get your tickets next year and stop by the Gen Hydro booth.  If you want to see more pics of Reggae Rising, be sure to check out the General Hydroponics Flickr stream.

Red-Icculus should be known to our readers as one of our power users. He, reader Ragnar, and many many other commenters all contribute to our blog with their knowledge and experience. Red-Icculus also runs his own blog about hydro, food and beer.

Red-Icculus.com covers DIY systems, nutrient reviews, and anything else hydro. He reviews beers, and shares recipes for healthy and delicious food. For us, he will be covering whatever is interesting at Reggae Rising.

Here is a pic of his dog Ella, the destroyer of all things garden:

Reggae Rising is the world’s largest world music festival. The event has a long tradition. It was originally conceived as a fundraiser for a new community center in Humbolt County. There have been many hurdles as the show moved into the new millennium, but it still draws a huge crowd and the most famous reggae performers. And it still provides huge amounts of income for local non profits and services. 

What does GH do there? We set up a giant booth, filled with beautiful plants and hydro systems. And our sales reps share their knowledge and techniques with masses of people. Everyone comes to visit and chill out on our couches and to hang out under water misters set up around the booth. Its the perfect spot to relax, and from our booth, there’s always a great view of the main stage. Plus, we always have some shade!

But that’s not all. We give away tons of stuff. Each year our graphics department creates a unique and commemorative Tshirt, featuring the Lion of Judah. The shirts are really really popular, and people wear them proudly. Plus we hand out samples of Nova, Floralicous, and more. We literally give away as many samples as we can fit in our box truck.

Early bird tickets are now on sale for Reggae Rising 2009. They are cheapest right now, and incrementally increase in price until they are all sold out. Ya’ better make plans now to attend. Follow this link, to reggaerising.com to learn more about the line up and camping on the Eel River.

Summertime and the Livin’s Easy. In August the GH crew headed into the heart of NorCal for the world’s largest reggae festival and I tagged along and captured the whole experience. Reggae Rising is an amazing weekend, and General Hydroponics has generously sponsored the event for 4 years now. We put up a huge booth in the concert bowl, and hold it down with friends and family.

The booth looks like some kind of paradise in the dead center of 20,000 reggae fans. It is a major chill out spot, with cushy couches and the best water misters. They really keep the heat from getting to you. The booth has a perfect view of the stage, and the music from the performers fills up the whole space.

This year our reps and consultants Jessica, Luc, Adam and Ivan met with hundreds and hundreds of customers. So many people learned about products and got samples. We gave away tons of loot, including free FloraNova, Floralicous, and FloraBlend. Meeting people and hearing all the positive feedback from our customers is totally fun, and helps us know what your garden’s needs are. It is such a good way to get to know people year after year.

And everyone who comes by the booth wants to score the famous reggae t-shirt that GH releases each year. The shirts are limited editons, and they feature the Lion of Judah. All the proceeds went to a really cutting edge charity that promotes myco-remediation of toxic lands.

Reggae Rising is just one of the festivals we sponsor. I’ll continue the summer festy wrapup next week with stories from Earthdance.