Yvette Marie Stevens, known as Chaka Khan, performs for thousands during the final day of the Stern Grove Festival in San Francisco on Sunday, Aug. 25, 2024. (Photo by Brontë Wittpenn/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)
But this year, the festival is doing things differently. While entrance is still free, Stern Grove is operating on a lottery system when distributing tickets this year. Festival goers will have to sign up through an online system six weeks before a certain show.
“I’m not a fan,” admits KQED’s own mid-level giving manager — and Stern Grove expert — Rachel Gelbmann. She said she missed out on securing tickets for some of her first-pick shows.
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“With the new system, you have a week to enter a lottery system and you either will or won’t get awarded tickets,” she said, but added that despite these changes, she’s still making an effort to see her favorites, which include Ross, the California Honey Drops and Damien and Stephen Marley.
Since Gelbmann is a Stern Grove regular and concert enthusiast, we naturally turned to her for any tips on how to navigate this year’s festival. With the price of concert tickets nowadays, any event promising free music is almost guaranteed to attract a huge crowd, and Gelbmann tells us how to secure tickets, enter the venue and other key tips.
The Flaming Lips perform at the Stern Grove festival on Aug. 20, 2023, in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Miikka Skaffari/Getty Images)
First things first: What is the new Stern Grove ticketing system?
There will be eleven concerts for Stern Grove: the first one — featuring The California Honeydrops — is scheduled for June 15 and there will be concerts every following weekend leading up to the two-day weekend picnic on Aug. 16 and 17. You can check out the lineup on KQED Arts or Stern Grove’s website.
Six weeks before each concert date, the online ticket lottery opens up, which can be found under each artist’s name or on the artist’s individual page on the festival’s website. The lottery will ask for your name, zip code, demographic information and how many tickets you want. You can request up to four tickets.
Children two years or younger do not need tickets. (Stern Grove also has weekly programming for children, from 12:30 p.m. to 3 p.m., that includes face painting, a petting zoo and games.)
Once the lottery for a concert opens up, you will have a week to enter your name. So if you are trying to watch Phantogram on July 13, the sign-up for the lottery is from June 1 to June 8.
“We understand the nostalgia for the “just show up” days of the past, but evolving safety standards and insurance requirements make it impossible to return to that model,” Stern Grove’s website reads.
After a week, Stern Grove will send out an email (from orders@sterngrove.org) to those who have won the lottery. You will have 72 hours to confirm with the festival and secure your tickets. (The website highlights that the message with your tickets comes with a claim button — which works only once!)
The tickets will be emailed to you.
What if you don’t get tickets?
If you are unable to get tickets through the lottery, there are some other ways to catch the show.
DoTheBay also has a ticket giveaway for each concert in the festival. You can enter using a form on Do The Bay’s website.
People can also consider volunteering for Stern Grove to be able to get a spot at a show. Volunteering can include cleaning up and breaking down the setup after the concert. With only a couple of weeks left before the start of the festival, Gelbmann has noticed spots going quickly and advised people to try signing up sooner rather than later.
Volunteers sign up through a website called Bloomerang. You can choose a day you are available, and one of the four shifts: Setup Crew (8 a.m. to 12 p.m.), Welcome Crew (10 a.m. to 2 p.m.), Festival Flow Crew (12 p.m. to 4 p.m.) and Breakdown Crew (2 p.m. to 6 p.m.).
According to Gelbmann, “the best shift is the early morning one, where you’re done by noon. Because then you can have first dibs on the best place to sit in the park.”
“You would also get your volunteering out of the way so you could enjoy your lunch and then enjoy the music,” she added. “You can also volunteer for leader shifts, but you might be kind of working during the music acts.”
Sarah Barthel of Phantogram performs on Day 3 of the Osheaga Music and Art Festival at Parc Jean-Drapeau on Aug. 6, 2017, in Montreal, Canada. Phantogram is playing Stern Grove on July 13, 2025. (Photo by Mark Horton/WireImage)
The two general admission entrances are 23rd and Wawona and 19th and Sloat.
The usual schedule is: lines open at 10 a.m., gates open at 12 p.m., DJ spinning at 1 p.m., and the show starts at 2 p.m. The concert usually ends at 4:30 or 5 p.m.
“Although it’s a free show, you have to be strategic about it,” Gelbmann said. “It’s a whole day thing.”
If you want a good spot, Gelbmann suggested getting in line around 9 or 9:30 a.m.
(Stern Grove officials say that overnight camping is not allowed.)
“We typically pack like breakfast burritos and our comfy seats for the show and just park ourselves on the sidewalk, and hang out with our burritos and something to read,” she said.
Gelbmann said when the gates open, sometimes there is a “mad rush” to get the best spots since it is first-come, first-served.
“Others can be a little territorial and not so nice,” she said. “I would just recommend being prepared for that.”
The seating areas include:
Concert Meadow
Hillside
West Meadow (includes a screen to watch the concert)
ADA, senior and wheelchair seating
But no worries, because in her experience, “90% of the people that do go to Stern Grove come with a good attitude and are friendly to people.”
A map of the 2025 Stern Grove Festival. (Courtesy of Stern Grove Festival.)
People who bought picnic tables do get parking spaces, and information will be emailed to them. More about accessible parking below.
“Street parking in the surrounding neighborhood is extremely limited,” the website reads. “Illegally parked cars — including those blocking driveways — may be ticketed and towed.”
For the Muni Metro: “Take lines M Ocean View or the K Ingleside and exit at the St. Francis Circle stop. Walk west one block to the park entrance at 19th Avenue and Sloat Boulevard.”
For Muni bus service: “Lines 23-Monterey and 28-19th Avenue stop right at 19th Avenue and Sloat Boulevard.”
For BART: Take a train to Civic Center and transfer to Muni Metro M Ocean View or the K Ingleside. You can also take BART to Glen Park Station and transfer to MUNI bus 23-Monterey and BART to Daly City and transfer to MUNI bus 28-19th Avenue.
Bikes
While bikes are not allowed in the venue, bikes can be stored with the valet located at 21st and Wowona. This storage space is open from noon to one hour after the concert ends.
Accessibility
When selecting a ticket, you can mention if you need accessibility services during your concert. This does not guarantee accessibility seating, as it is first-come, first-served.
But it’s still worth letting organizers know that you need accessible seating when signing up, because Stern Grove may reach out four weeks before the concert to communicate possible arrangements.
Accessible parking is also first-come, first-served along the North side of Sloat Blvd between 19th Ave and 22nd Ave.”
There is also a shuttle that does a round trip from the 19th and Sloat Entrance and the Concert Meadow. Hours for the shuttle are 11:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Gelbmann used the bus system last year, when she was pregnant, and mentioned that it can be slow.
“It’s one small bus and it does shifts,” she explained. “If you’re in that first load of people, you’ll get in pretty early, but you have to be pretty patient.”
