BottleRock Napa music festival will check for vaccination or negative COVID test

Michael McGough
·2 min read

BottleRock Napa, one of Northern California’s biggest annual music festivals, will require proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test from attendees this year.

Staff will check guests all three days of the event, Sept. 3 to Sept. 5, festival organizers announced Friday on the BottleRock website.

For those presenting a negative test, it must come within 72 hours of each day in attendance. This means those intending to go all three days must get tested either Sept. 2 or Sept. 3.

In order to be considered fully vaccinated in time for the festival and not require a negative test, guests will have to have received their final dose by Aug. 20.

Masks will be recommended but not required for the outdoor event, in line with state guidelines.

Under California Department of Public Health guidance for “mega events” — defined as those with crowds of more than 5,000 indoors and 10,000 outdoors — indoor mega events are required to use a vaccine-or-negative-test system; for outdoor events, it is a recommendation.

However, the state guidelines say venues may choose to implement self-attestation from guests — essentially, the honor system.

BottleRock doesn’t appear to be offering this option.

“Documentation will be checked daily upon entry,” the event’s entry requirements read. “A photo of your vaccination card or negative test result saved to your phone is sufficient.” CDPH guidelines also say this level of proof is sufficient.

BottleRock says it will use touchless wristbands for cashless transactions and will set up more than 350 hand-sanitizing stations.

BottleRock 2021 at Napa Valley Expo will feature Guns N’ Roses, Foo Fighters, Stevie Nicks, Miley Cyrus and Megan Thee Stallion.

Organizers canceled the event in 2020 due to the pandemic. It was first postponed until October before being called off last year. The 2021 festival had originally been set for May but was also pushed back, to Labor Day weekend.

More information is available at bottlerocknapavalley.com.