Recently we went to the Hangtown Halloween Ball in ”Old Hangtown” Placerville, CA.  We had never been to this event or Placerville other than driving through on the way to South Lake Tahoe.  I have to say that we were really impressed with the concert and the town.  Placerville actually has a lot of great little shops and most everything you need, even a late night In and Out.  It was raining like crazy that weekend so we stocked up on rain gear in town and went to the event.

The event was a 3 day festival at the fairgrounds and it was also a camping event so there were campgrounds interspersed around the venue. There was 2-3 stages setup and bands would play one after another for the most part to avoid overlap.

Railroad Earth Live

Shook twins live - they are really talented!

The lineup was absolutely incredible!  Every band was very talented and fun to listen to.  The banjo can get a little old after a while but nothing a few intoxicants can’t take care of.  Railroad Earth was the headliner all three nights.  We also really liked Leftover Salmon they put on a great show that really got the crowd jumping with their carribean flair.

There was a ton of costumes and lights for Halloween and the event was very family friendly.  We brought our 2.5 year old and she had a blast.  There was a kids activity area set up and the kids were very entertained.  Our daughter carved her first pumpkin!.

Everybody was really nice  and welcoming, the food was excellent.  The best part was that it wasn’t too crowded and there was really small lines at the food stands.  There was thai food, brick oven pizza, african food and more.  They gave very big portions also.  We’re used to living in San Francisco where you pay a lot for little so we were very pleased.

The only bummer was you couldn’t bring in drinks to the main stages but you could buy them once you went into the stage area.  Overall I highly recommend the event.  It was a really fun and family friendly festival with plenty to do and it also opened us up to the great little town of Placerville!