Blended Festival San Diego aims to “blend” food, alcohol and music at two-day event

If being stuck in quarantine made you miss live music, you’re in luck. Blended Festival San Diego is back with an event that aims to “blend” together food, music and alcohol — resulting in a festival that offers something for everyone.

Blended Festival is the brainchild of My Wine Society, a social media app based in San Diego that guides wine-lovers in various cities, telling them where to find the best wines and wineries in their area.

John Bazzo, the president of My Wine Society, said the app, which was launched in 2018, filled a need for people who love wine, but might not be in the know the best places to find it.

“We wanted to create a social media platform for the wine community to get together, see what they liked and know where to go if you’re new to a community,” he said.

From there, the Blended Festival was born as a way to bring the My Wine Society app to life. The first Blended Festival was held in August 2019 at Waterfront Park. The inaugural event was a success, and My Wine Society planned three more festivals (in San Diego, Chicago and Valle de Guadalupe) in 2020. Of course, those events were canceled in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

During that hiatus, the festival went through some changes.

Originally, it was known as the Blended Wine Festival, but Bazzo said he felt the name didn’t embody the true spirit of the spirit, which is a “blend” of various types of food, music and alcohol. So they dropped “Wine” and in 2021, Blended Festival held two more events: In August, Blended Festival hit Nashville and in September, it took place in Austin.

But Kristy Rumsey, Director of Media, Communications and Social Media Marketing for My Wine Society, said that they’re most excited to bring Blended home.

The crowd enjoying Blended Festival.

(Tony Tran)

“Coming to San Diego, we are looking forward to it more than any city. We’re so excited to be home,” she said.

Guests who attend Blended Festival can look forward to a variety of different experiences, like samples, on-site vendors, a wellness tent, sunset yoga, a silent disco, a 100-foot wine tent and a culinary stage.

There will also be live music featuring local musicians and major headliners like Loud Luxury and Deorro on Friday and Nelly and The Chainsmokers on Saturday. Other musicians scheduled to appear include Bryce Vine, Jowell y Randy, James Kennedy (of “Vanderpump Rules”), Brandi Cyrus, Blanco Brown and more.

Local chefs like Kevin Templeton (barleymash, The Smoking Gun) and Marco Provino (Rusticucina, Allegro) will be onsite doing culinary demonstration and challenges.

And lest you think this is still solely about wine, local event sponsors like JuneShine Hard Kombucha, Cutwater Spirits, Kové Hard Yerba Mate and Skrewball Peanut Butter Whiskey will also be participating, in addition to Jaja Tequila, Stella Artois and more.

Blended Festival San Diego

When: 4 to 10:30 p.m. Friday; noon to 10:30 p.m. Saturday.
Where: Spanish Landing Park, 3900 N. Harbor Drive, Harbor Island
What: Food, wine and spirits tastings, plus music with headliners Nelly and The Chainsmokers
Tickets: $69 general admission, $119 VIP for Friday; $89 general admission, $149 VIP for Saturday; $149 for a two-day GA pass; $259 for a two-day VIP pass and $499 for a premium, two-day VIP pass.
Online: blendedfestival.com
Health protocols: Attendees are required to take the CLEAR Health Pass survey within 72 hours of the event (via the app or onsite). There is limited capacity to ensure that guests can spread out safely throughout the festival.