Bear Shadow Festival 2024: What You Need to Know

Get out of your den, welcome the new season, and join the annual spring festival on Windfield Farm on the Highlands-Cashiers Plateau, North Carolina, for the Bear Shadow Festival, a celebration of American, folk, and alt-country, this coming May 11-12, 2024. The sister festival of Highlands Food & Wine, Bear Shadow, debuted in 2021 and has easily become a must-attend event in the North Carolina music scene. 

Last year, they booked Austin-based rock band Spoon, indie folk band The Head and the Heart, and Grammy Award winner Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit. And this year, they’re giving the headliner spots to Black Pumas and J.J. Grey & Mofro. The weekend festival also brings a stellar assembly of top-tier artists to perform with them. 

The Line-up – Who’s singing at Bear Shadow

Experience the rad soundtrack at 4118 feet high at the Bear Shadow Festival 2024. Here’s their full two-day line-up.

DAY 1 – May 11, Saturday

DAY 2 – May 12, Sunday

Festival Essentials & Insider Tips

Thousands of attendees flock to North Carolina for this annual spring scene. 

You can purchase either a single-day pass or a weekend pass for the event. General admission tickets for a single day are $175, while the weekend pass is $300. For VIPs, a single pass costs $325, and the weekend $600. Children under 12 are free, but organizers note that there are ponds in the area (and unattended children will be fed to the bears), music will be loud, and alcohol will be served. Yes, all ticket tiers have complimentary alcoholic drinks (spirits reserved only for VIPs and can’t be purchased), but they also offer non-alcoholic beverages for non-drinkers.

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If you want the extra luxury, you can buy a 2-day Platinum VIP pass for $6,000, with access to a reserved cove fitting up to six (6) people.

Saturday gates open at 1:30 P.M., and Sunday gates open an hour earlier. It’s an outdoor farm rain-or-shine event, so everyone’s advised to wear casual clothes that fit the forecasted weather. Dress shoes are strongly discouraged, especially on wet grounds. 

There are a variety of accommodations available in the area – inns, hotels, and rental homes. But there are limited parking passes (for $25), so if you’re going by car, make sure to secure one before it runs out. You can also take the complimentary free shuttles that will run continuously between Kelsey-Hutchinson Park, The Highlands Community Center, and Winfield Farm. There are no Uber or Lyft available. 

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Also, there’s no public wi-fi, and cell service is limited. So, basically, this is an offline kind of event where you can just soak in nature and music. 

Bear Shadow is committed to the environmental conservation and preservation of the Highlands Plateau, and this year, they are partnering with Sky Valley-Scale Mountain Volunteer Fire & Rescue. A portion of the ticket proceeds will go into the support of this non-profit organization. 

For more info, tune in to their official website at Bear Shadow NC. You can also text BEARSHADOW to (828) 202-8911 to get weekend updates and festival info.