Bringing music back to Slide

What a treat to have Anna Ash and Tom Conneely and Birds of Paradise under the cypress tree in the Slide Ranch garden a couple weeks ago. It was such a joy to have former Slide educators, community members, supporters, newcomers, people young and old in the crowd representing the expansive network of the Slide Ranch Community. We're thrilled to bring music back to Slide Ranch, filling the garden with sounds that drift over the ocean and connect to a rich history of music and art that is deeply myceliated into this place. The Grateful Dead camped out at Slide Ranch in its earliest days and in 1970 Jerry Garcia was one of Slide’s first donors.

Anna Ash’s cover of Lucinda William’s Righteously was our garden lead’s top song of 2025! Played repeatedly through a speaker in the garden over the course of last summer, the plants and vegetables absorbed her sounds many times before Anna herself played it under the cypress! Leah Song of Rising Appalachia, in a concert we hosted last February, said to the crowd: I believe our music is meant to be played in places like this. In gardens. In places where people work together to steward and care for land; growing food and learning.

Gathering together outdoors creates meaningful connections among people, facilitates mutual respect and understanding, enhances learning, and promotes a shared joy in nature. Building community through nature with inclusion promotes equity and justice.

Bringing art and music to Slide just feels right. It honors Slide’s mission, which is to connect children and people of all ages to the outdoors. It embodies our vision, which is for a world in which everyone feels a sense of belonging and wonder in nature. And it is rooted in our core value of community.

We will be hosting two more Art and Music events this summer! A concert by Bolinas band Good Friends and Marin artists Karsen Scott and Alex Gilles, and a puppet show by artist and teacher Olivia Carroll-Weisel. Supported by the West Marin Fund, these events are intended to feed the social fabric of our community, and the public’s connection to the Ranch.

Slide Ranch's music and art events are a celebration of place, art, music, and gathering around what truly nourishes us: community and relationships. We understand that the future wellbeing of this place rests in the power of community. We understand that coming together in celebration and joy keeps us creative, nimble, and nourished to continue to care for one another, and our world - as stewards, teachers, farmers, artists, students and so on. Proceeds from this upcoming series of events directly support scholarships for West Marin youth to attend immersive environmental education programs at Slide Ranch.

So, come on out to Slide and experience the shared joy! Sliding scale tickets for the August 8th concert and August 29th puppet show are available at on our website.