Celebrate summer with these Sonoma County music fests

Face it: Every summer, there are a gazillion music festivals to choose from. It's no longer enough to just buy a ticket, show up and play wallflower while humming and nodding along to your favorite band.

You want an experience, right? You want to be a part of the action.

Simmered down, like a reduction sauce, from a Sonoma County smorgasbord of sounds, here are the Top 5 excuses to dust off your hiking boots or hop in the saddle before topping off the bota bag, packing a picnic and heading for the mythic outdoor summer music festival:

Funky Fridays

Sweat it out on a hike to the top of Hood Mountain (trail elevation: more than 2,000 feet), pause to ogle the stunning panorama, then descend to dance under the valley moon and stars every Friday from June 7 to August 30 at the Hood Mansion. Once the home of the secret society the Knights of Pythias and now the only pre-Civil War brick building still standing in Sonoma County, the stately mansion stages a rotating cast of blues, funk, reggae and rock bands all summer long.

This year, the stage has been moved to the south end of the lawn and an official dance floor has been installed. Food trucks supply the tri-tip and chocolate munchies. Beer and wine are for sale.

Pro tip: You can bring your own picnic spread, but no outside alcoholic beverages. And no umbrellas or high-backed chairs.

Details: 7 to 9 p.m. every Friday June 7 – Aug. 30. $10 adults, kids under 18 are free. funkyfridays.info

Huichica Music Festival

Why drive to this boutique indie music fest when you can bike? Stop off at Sonoma Valley Bike Tours (1254 Broadway, Sonoma, sonomavalleybiketours.com) and rent a bike for only $36 a day and peddle the mostly flat three miles to Gundlach Bundschu Winery. Now in its ninth year, the festival curated by Jeff Bundschu and Fruit Bats bandleader Eric D. Johnson is a super family-friendly, intimate affair with two stages Friday and four stages Saturday. Come for headliners like Chuck Prophet or a blast-from-the-past like the Love band, featuring Johnny Echols playing the album “Forever Changes,” and discover lesser-knowns like Dirty Ghosts and The Matching Shoe.

Pro tip: On Saturday, $10 gets you a joy ride on the winery's Pinzgauer (a repurposed Austrian military vehicle), a glass of wine and a 30-minute vineyard tour.

Details: June 7 and 8. Tickets $55 Friday, $110 Saturday, $155 both days. sonoma.huichica.com

Broadway Under the Stars

Show up early and hike around Jack London State Historic Park or hop on a horse and trot through the park with Triple Creek Horse Outfit ($90 for 1 hr., triplecreekhorseoutfit.com), while learning more about the prolific “Call of the Wild” author and his beloved Beauty Ranch in Glenn Ellen. By sunset, you'll spread your blanket for a picnic and get ready to sing along with your favorite Broadway hits at the ruins of the former Kohler & Frohling winery. This year, look for a full production of “A Chorus Line,” along with the always popular Fantastical Family Night.

Pro tip: Picnic tables are available on first-come, first-serve basis, but you can reserve one online.

Details: Season runs June 14-Sept. 8. Tickets $45-$154. transcendencetheatre.org.

Green Music Center's Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular

Arrive early and make sure the kids get a good workout as carnival games, bounce houses and face painting kick off this annual patriotic celebration showcasing the Santa Rosa Symphony and Transcendence Theater teaming up for a dazzling night of show tunes and classics – all capped off with what is touted as the biggest fireworks display in Sonoma County.

Pro tips: All kids under 12 score half-price tickets. If you're on one of those caveman diets, stop off at Bud's Custom Meats (across Petaluma Hill Road from campus at 7750 Petaluma Hill Rd.) for the Cowboy Candy jerky to give your jaw a paleo workout while you watch the show.

Details: Starts at 4:30 p.m. July 4. Tickets starting at $25. gmc.sonoma.edu.

Old Grove Festival in Armstrong Woods

With the Russian River Jazz and Blues Festival taking another hiatus this year, this celebration of folk, bluegrass, rock and the time-tested use of redwoods as acoustic baffles will happily mark the end of summer and festival season in mid-September.

Take time to hike through the park and marvel at the towering giants (don't miss the tallest tree at 310 feet or the oldest at over 1,400 years) in Armstrong Woods State Natural Reserve in Guerneville.

Built in the 1930s, the hidden amphitheater was closed in the 1980s for fear of trampling the environment. It re-opened in 2006 to stage very limited live music shows, including the Old Grove Festival every September.

Pro tip: Don't forget that headlamp you use for cooking in the dark while camping. It will come in handy on the Sleepy Hollow hike back to your car in the dark - wait, those green eyes staring back at me are deer, right?

Details: Sept. 14-15. Tickets: $35-$80. Kids under 12 are free. Lineup yet to be announced, but it's worth knowing last year's headliner was New Monsoon. stewardscr.org/old-grove-festival.html.