The festival is held in the main courtyard of an old abbey, now our Junior High School. The original building runs along the back of the festival site and houses the luthiers hall and the instrument check. It is a lovely environment to hold a festival with stunning views towards the mountains creating a fantastic atmosphere.
Today, the school is run by the ESCR (Catholic School Association of La Roche) who, as a Premium Partner, generously make their premises available for us to use. The ESCR high school dormitories also accommodate the festival musicians and the workshop in another part of town.

available on site

access to  the site

Access to the festival is free. There is therefore no need to show tickets. However, in line with ongoing security measures in France, everyone is required to go through a control point and bag check when accesssing the site

information

Immediately after the entrance is the information chalet and festival shop. Our volunteers will answer all your questions, give out programmes and sell you any festival merchandise you may want to buy. 

f & b

There is large food court with a wide choice of hot and cold home made food, and beers, wines and soft drinks.
It is located at the far end of the site from the entrance. See this page for more information.

festival merchandise​

The festival has a collection of tee shirts, caps and other merchandise for sale from the information tent by the entrance to the site. 
To see our catalogue of products, see this page

CD sales

Nearly all bands performing at the festival have CDs and sometimes other merchandise for sale in the chalet next to the stage.
After their set, bands will go to the tent between the CD chalet and the Information chalet to meet and greet, sign CDs and take photos.

paying with €uroches

To avoid having cash at too many points around the festival, all food and drink must be paid for using our own local currency the €uroche. These may be obtained at the cashpoint "caisse" chalet at the exchange rate of 1 €uro to 1 €uroche.
Credit and debit cards may be used to buy €uroches and for CD and merchandise purchases.
Market sellers are not subject to festival payment conditions and may accept whatever form of payment they wish.

festival market

Independent market stalls are open throughout the festival along the access route and around the perimeter of the site.
​They sell a variety of arts and crafts, clothing, head wear

Luthier's hall

Master instrument builders from Europe and the USA show their products for anyone to try and buy. What could be better than dealing direct with the luthier? 
​There is also a musical accessories stand in the hall.

the environment

As far as we can, we try to be environmentally friendlyl. Our food and drinks are, where possible, sourced locally. We use recyclable plates and festival goers are asked to use (and re-use) our festival drinking beakers. These may be taken on deposit (1 euro, given back at the end of the festival).
Please try to respect the waste sorting system when throwing anything away.

for your convenience

what to wear

La Roche sur Foron is 600 m (2000 ft) high and the festival is outdoors. It can get very hot during the day and quite cold at night.
You will need sun cream and a hat in the day, and a fleece jacket for the evening.
You may also need rainwear as we nearly always get some rain - usually a light shower or a short, spectacular mountain storm (we only had to cancel a show once in 12 years).
There are areas that are protected from the elemnents by tents, parasols and trees, and the ground is tarmac (no mud) but most of the site is exposed so please come prepared.

Kids zone

There is a children's play area on the balcony of the new school building behind the food court. 
Children should be supervised by a parent or guardian at all times.

instrument check

There is an instrument check in the luthiers hall. This is a free service open to all, performers and spectators.
The instrument check opens one hour before the festival starts each day and closes half an hour after the last band finishes playing.
​Instruments not checked out will be locked away for the night.

seating

Seats are available in front of the stage. There is no reservation and seats cannot be retained by leaving possessions on them. 
There is also plenty of free seating with tables available around  the site, mainly next to the food court and the Champagne bar.

toilets

Public toilets are available on the first floor of the new school building behind the food court.
Toilets reserved for the disabled are on the ground floor.

wheelchair access

Access to the site for wheelchairs is possible as there are no stairs or steep climbs to get in and the entire festival site is tarmac.
There are blue badge parking spaces in town. We cannot guarantee they will be free during the weekend of the festival.
The lunchtime stage converts to a wheelchair viewing platform for evening concerts. It is next to the sound engineers.
Toilets reserved for diabled users are on the ground floor behind and to the left of the food court.

dogs

Dogs are permitted on the festival provided they are kept on a lead, owners clean up after them and they are muzzled according their category as defined by French law.