Back in the dark days of the COVID pandemic, nobody could confidently predict the future of live music. While Dan Mastronardi didn’t have a crystal ball, he did have a plot of land outside Syracuse in LaFayette, NY, and when it was safe to do so, he started hosting socially distant concerts. The new pod-style venue was fittingly dubbed Apple Valley Park, named for the central New York region famous for its apples. But LaFayette is a small town of under 5,000, so when fans started showing up to see Billy Strings, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Umphrey’s McGee, and others, they needed a place to stay. Enter what was then known as Wonderland Campground, which has since sprouted and grown into Wonderland Forest.
What was originally just a campground for shows at Apple Valley Park has developed into an engrossing new approach to the festival experience. Mastronardi and his team at Westcott Presents launched Wonderland Forest last summer with a 50th-anniversary celebration of the famed Summer Jam concert that brought over half a million people to Watkins Glen, NY to see the Grateful Dead, Allman Brothers Band, and The Band on July 28th, 1974. While Wonderland Forest didn’t bring in quite as many people to see Dark Star Orchestra, Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country, and The Weight Band pay tribute to the respective original Summer Jam performers, it marked the first step in Mastronardi’s ongoing concert experiment—and a critical first test.
“Last year was our first year we had events here, we opened with Summer Jam… and it rained two inches. I mean, we literally got monsooned with rain the minute we opened our doors for the first time ever with a brand new venue,” Mastronardi told Live For Live Music over the phone. “It was extremely challenging, but we were like, ‘Well, we might as well see, can the grounds handle the weather?’ And we learned that, yeah, the grounds could handle the weather. We adjusted, we adapted, and the show went off without a hitch.”
A former summer camp, Wonderland Forest sits on 450 acres of land that encompasses rolling hills, waterfalls, wooded trails, mountaintop views, and more. That’s not to say the venue came ready for live events, as Mastronardi and his team clear-cut trees, put down grass, and constructed the amphitheater to exactly the specifications they wanted it. Despite the immense size of the property, one elements that makes Wonderland Forest unique is its commitment to keeping things small. While the site has hosted larger events like Biscoland and Twiddle’s Tumble Down, the venue’s calendar also features many one- or two-band shows. Mastronardi summed up the concept as, “We’ve created a venue that’s a festival without a festival,” giving attendees the festival environment and experience while seeing a 500-person show with two bands on two stages, rather than spending four days and hundreds of dollars to see an overwhelming amount of music.
“It’s like to me, when I was a kid, I would go camping and I’d go to concerts, but not like this,” Mastronardi explained. “When you’re combining both of them in the same place, it makes for something special, which is more than just the music. With Wonderland, we want to give [attendees] that experience, that adventure, that not just, ‘Okay, cool, we’re going to a concert in a parking lot.’”
The fan experience is at the forefront of Wonderland’s entire mission. An old-school ’90s Phish fan who sold his fair share of grilled cheeses and Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stouts on lot—with Magic Hats two for $5—Mastronardi engineered the venue with a fan-first mentality. Given the array of natural elements at Wonderland Forest, attendees can hike, bike, run, and take in the scenic views of Apple Valley from the overlook all without leaving the festival grounds. In the future, the Westcott Presents team is looking to organize off-site daytime excursions to local breweries, the region’s plethora of golf courses, and much more. This past weekend at Biscoland, Wonderland also beta-tested its new Skydeck option, which replicates the pod-style concert experience from the pandemic (without any of the anxiety). Fans get their own sectioned-off area, camping chairs, a platform deck for optimal views, a locking private bathroom, and the option for concession delivery.
“Those are things that I think [are] what the fan wants when they’re going for an experience like this,” Mastronardi said, “and we haven’t even scratched the surface on our glamping, and the cabins, and tree forts, and everything else. We plan to build on Wonderland long-term.”
While campers and concert attendees get to choose their own adventures, Wonderland Forest also provides an array of options to visiting artists. Thanks to the sprawling setup, the venue can host concerts in a variety of setups with bigger shows at the amphitheater and smaller bands at the Saloon Stage. There are also plans in the works for night hikes up the mountain for a silent disco and an intimate stage near one of the site’s several waterfalls. Mastronardi has made Wonderland hospitable to artists looking to host comfortable boutique festivals like The Disco Biscuits’ Biscoland, Papadosio‘s Summer Sequence, and more. The Wonderland team has also been hospitable to its neighbors, rolling with a newly installed 11 p.m. curfew by turning late-night sets into silent discos—something Mastronardi looks forward to exploring with full bands in the future.
In August, the venue will host the 11-day Grateful Getaway series with a different Grateful Dead-centric act performing each night including Dark Star Orchestra, Melvin Seals & JGB, and Sam Grisman Project. Fans can come and go for whichever show they wish or ride it out for the whole 11 days. The music happens in the evening, allowing visitors the time to explore the campgrounds and take in the area’s natural beauty during the day without rushing from stage to stage.
“That’s really kind of what we’ve done with a lot of our events so far,” Mastronardi explained of the artist-curated event model. “They’re not festivals that we’re producing on our own. We’re working individually with an artist to produce what they want and they’re utilizing our grounds accordingly. … We don’t really say ‘no’ too much.”
Wonderland Forest has already logged a lot of milestones in less than two full seasons. The biggest one for Mastronardi came on May 17th when Trey Anastasio & Classic TAB played a headlining show at the venue. Here he was, some 30 years after following Trey and Phish around the country and flipping grilled cheeses, and the guitarist was playing at his venue. For old-time’s sake, and to round out the full-circle moment, Dan loaded up a cooler with Sammy Smiths, broke out the grill, and toasted up a few grilled cheeses (on Wonder Bread, of course) during Trey’s set.
“But that’s what Wonderland is,” Mastronardi said of the experience. “It’s like we have a guy right now up here, he came and vended Biscoland, his name’s Phil and he does popcorn. But I was like, ‘Phil, do you want to stay for next week?’ And he’s like, ‘Sure.’ And now Phil’s literally going to just live at Wonderland and vend for the remainder of the season. Those are the kind of relationships, and that’s the kind of vibe we want at Wonderland.”
Check out Wonderland Forest’s full schedule of upcoming concerts, including shows by Greensky Bluegrass, The String Cheese Incident, Dogs In A Pile, and more. Use the code “L4LM” when purchasing tickets for $5 off through Tuesday, July 16th.
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