Photo Gallery: BottleRock Napa Valley Festival Preparation

By Al Francis

NAPA, CA -- BottleRock Napa Valley preparation is in full swing at the Napa Valley Expo fairgrounds for the sold out music, food, wine and beer festival, which takes place May 26-28.

Crews have been installing tents for VIP ticket holders, some tent are air-conditioned, and tents for food, wine and beer vendors. Utility crews have brought in extra cell towers to handle the thousands of social media messages, texts, photos and videos from the event. Three story steel structures have been built to accommodate VIP guest along the sides of the main stage viewing area the length of a football field.

However, the biggest change this year is the four acres of grass being installed by DHR construction of American Canyon. Crews are installing 214,000 square feet of a hybrid Bermuda sod over three days this week at the main stage viewing field that is usually used for parking for fair events. Trenches were dug last week for an irrigation system.

Parking for the event will be tighter this year with nearby lots on Soscol Ave used in past BottleRock events for parking are now filled with heavy construction equipment and construction material. The massive main stage and two other stages will be built along with the sound and stage lighting in the next few weeks.

The three day event features The Foo Fighters, Tom Petty & Heartbreakers and Maroon 5 as the headliners over the three day Memorial weekend. Some of the 70 bands include Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Modest Mouse, Michael Franti & Spearhead. Other acclaimed artists include Andra Day, St. Lucia and Corey Harper, to name a few.

Martha Stewart, Jose Andres and Masaharu Morimoto are the star chefs appearing at the Culinary Stage which draws huge crowds.

Despite the event being sold out third party ticket outlets are selling tickets. For more info visit bottlerocknapavalley.com

Images via Al Francis/napasonomaphotos.com