A Glimpse Into June Jam's New Home at Playa Ponderosa

Earlier this month, The Rust team was privileged enough to glimpse behind the curtain into Arizona’s evolving grassroots culture. Flagstaff's own Junetember Jam was, simply put, magical. Previously referred to as Juniper Jam, and classically as June Jam, the festival celebrated its 3rd year with one of its most dynamic and provocative lineups of musicians and educators to date. Featuring classes on organic living, self-betterment workshops, and a variety of self-healing and kink-friendly groups, June Jam has become a local favorite and a must-visit festival for the committed patron/attendee. 

Perusing Playa Ponderosa has an intimate feel and showcases the natural and magical landscape of Northeast Arizona. Tucked deep into the woods just outside Flagstaff, Junetember Jam offers spectacular 360 views atop Playa Ponderosa and is accompanied by high fidelity sound on Danley, Funktion-One sound, and KV sound systems. June Jam does an amazing job not only showcasing one of a kind musical acts, but highlights the evolving culture around speaker systems as well.  Sets from artists like Navigatorz, skysia, Vinja, Arcturus and more had this year's crowd entranced by sound design flexed on some of the world’s finest dynamic sound systems to date. With four stages spread out across a quarter mile footprint, the push and pull of different styles was brilliantly balanced, allowing attendees to have those magical moments of exploring a late night festival between stages and having the convenience of being close to camp and amenities. 

With a population size of about 1000, June Jam is able to offer RV friendly campsites as well as regular tent camping that is both comfortable and responsible. This year’s staff had safety as the most paramount task at hand. Event organizers implemented a simple color-coded wristband system to help attendees indicate their comfort level for giving hugs and touch; Green indicating “go for it, I'm all in for hugs”, yellow indicating “no hugs from strangers”, and red indicating that patrons would prefer to keep personal space. Our team also met with the Good Eggs, a harm reduction service offered to festivals as a way of passing along helpful information about festival culture and experiences, as well as extending a helping hand to those perhaps going through a less than desirable experience. 

With their team of highly committed dreamers, creators, and staff; June Jam was able to cultivate an experience for attendees that was both responsible and worry free. The atmosphere surrounding their four stages was created to be inviting and explorative with a fire circle, chill out spaces, and elevated art hanging amongst the trees, all just a stone's throw from where music was playing. The oasis area was just within a tree line and was complete with “tiki”themed stage design and a hanging mirrored bull elevated 12 feet above the crowd. Seeing team members walking and grooving with patrons filled our teams hearts, while the delightful smells and taste of a makeshift tostada bar on Sunday morning filled our bellies. The wide range of classes and excited teachers made our team feel welcomed into some more niche realms of festival counterculture, showing off the synergy between recreation and learning in alternative spaces.    

With a focus on safety and cultivating a culture that is an homage to the best aspects of festival experiences, June Jam offers an experience that is uniquely pleasant and well-regulated. Our team at every corner made a friend out of a stranger, fell into deep and human conversations, and made renewed connections to ourselves. Being touched by magic comes to us when we least expect it, and our team lived in the magic of Playa Ponderosa, found family out of friends, and will be eager to make the trip back home to June Jam next year.

FOLLOW June Jam: Facebook / Webpage

Getting Acquainted With The Magic of June Jam

Playa Ponderosa by day.

This coming weekend, June Jam is set to mark its third year of fanfare-laden operation. Beginning in 2018 with a very small, boutique-style event in Prescott called Juniper Jam, the vision and determination has turned the small party into a multi-day festival and cultural free-for-all. “It was a pretty small event, somewhere in the neighborhood of about 300 paying attendees and then a lot of awesome artists. More of an artist summit than a festival.” said Christian Cortes, June Jam’s music and event coordinator.

Fast forward one year, and the owners and team members of June Jam purchased a beautiful plot of 75+ acres that has since been named Playa Ponderosa. The land is surrounded by the Coconino National Forest, a picturesque rounded red stone and high country desert with sub-alpine forests populated by Ponderosa trees and lush meadows. Complete with three stages, freshly chipped dance floors and their own exhibition spaces, The Promenade and The Nook, for those wide-eyed insomniacs seeking a full night of music and color.

“ [June Jam] is produced by mainly burners and Phoenix natives that would otherwise be at Burning Man this particular weekend,” said Christian. “The vision for the property itself has always been to host a large, open-format music and arts event. A lot of our team has been to Burning Man or helped produce aspects of theme camps at Burning Man, so we have traditionally had to work around the reality that some of our team is involved. Given the circumstances, we felt that it was a really good opportunity for us to fill that void for the regional burner community, but also for the people who might have not gone to the burn, are interested in it, or they have glimpsed that culture and might have some curiosity. Maybe their only exposure to music and art in that kind of format is the larger music festivals. We really are trying to capture everything that is not just music.”

Playa Ponderosa by evening.

June Jam features an exhaustive list of involved, expansive, and creative workshops and classes. Starting at 9 in the morning until late afternoon, classes are spread out throughout the grounds. The team aims to provide adequate space for patrons to participate in the many activities and classes at their leisure without feelings of overcrowding. “They did an amazing job curating this list of workshops that kind of hits on all aspects of fringe culture. You've got your movement and flow workshops, your yoga classes, a lot of stuff you would normally see, like more of a traditional music festival, transformative festival setting. Then there is stuff that is more inspired by the kind of programming at a theme camp at Burning Man - like shibari rope bondage and kink classes - hings that are more a part of fringe culture as opposed to something you would see normally.” Musical acts such as Moontricks, Random Rab, 5AM , Sortof Vague, Nox-Vahn, and Vinja are a small portion featured on the eclectic line up.

While dancing in the Ponderosa-lined meadow with audiophiles and creatives alike, attendees can rest assured that some of the best safeguards one could ask for in the post-covid world are present. Their team is asking people to get tested 72 hours prior to the event and providing colored wristbands to nonverbally signal consent without overcomplicating things or alienating people. Covid has taken us all for a ride but those that would like to gather in a safe way have options.

Playa Ponderosa by night.

“We do trust people to be responsible for themselves. We have one gate. It's the kind of festival where you get through the main gate, that's it. No additional security barriers. Personal accountability is a big part of how we run this event but we have had a lot of luck and respect from taking that model and really expanding it over the course of the last two years.” said Christian.

Tickets are still available to be a part of the stunning magic that is June Jam with varying packages. Limited RV camping remains but with sprawling protections us festival goers have always hoped for in place, get ready for an immersive recreational weekend of contrasting and colorful festivities. The team hopes to see a diverse crowd of creative minds, and we’re thoroughly inclined to be a part of it.

FOLLOW June Jam: Webpage / Tickets / Facebook