Desert Festival ‘Tecopa Takeover’ Shifts to November 7–9, Confirms Lineup
The desert’s most colorful fall tradition is officially back. Organizers have confirmed that Tecopa Takeover 11 will be held November 7–9, 2025 at the Tecopa Hot Springs Resort, just 90 minutes from Las Vegas.
“Yes! Of course it is happening!!! We can’t help ourselves…” organizers wrote in their announcement. The event was shifted forward one week due to scheduling conflicts with some of its staple bands.
Tecopa Takeover has built its reputation as an intimate, family-friendly celebration of live music, art, and community, unfolding beneath the vast desert skies and next to some of the best hot springs in the country. The event welcomes locals and travelers alike to camp, soak, dance, and connect.
Organizers encourage attendees to “mark your calendars, invite your friends, and bring the family” for a weekend featuring:
- Live music from returning fan favorites
- An “Insane Raffle”
- Silent disco and acoustic campfire sessions
- Fire dancers and drum circles
- Yoga classes
- More experiences yet to be announced
Attendance is capped at 150 tickets, available online via Eventbrite, with a limited number set aside for local purchase. Tickets are $100, while children 12 and under attend free.
Camping and lodging are not included in ticket prices. Attendees can book accommodations directly with local resorts and campgrounds.
Music Lineup
This year’s festival brings back several popular Tecopa Takeover artists. Confirmed acts include:
- The Mega-Scopes
- Catfish John
- Big Like Texas
- Pitchfork
- HEISH
- Michael Andrieu
- The Code
- Flameology
- …with more still to be announced.
Now entering its second decade, the Takeover is both a festival and a reunion, a desert tradition that attracts music lovers and families from across the region. This year’s edition is sponsored by Community Productions and the Las Vegas Jam Band Society.
For tickets and updates, organizers advise following the official Eventbrite page and watching for lineup announcements in the coming weeks.
SIFPD to Host Community Flea Market on November 8
The Southern Inyo Fire Protection District (SIFPD) will be sponsoring a community flea market on Saturday, November 8, at the Tecopa Community Center.
The event is scheduled to overlap for a day with the Takeover festival but will be held across the street, offering a smaller, homegrown alternative focused on bringing neighbors together. Organizers say the flea market will feature opportunities to make art, sell personal items, and share creative projects, all while raising a bit of extra support for the fire district.
Residents are encouraged to bring their crafts, goods, and secondhand items to sell, or simply stop by to mingle with neighbors and enjoy the community atmosphere.
SIFPD EMT Training Begins
The Southern Inyo Fire Protection District’s effort to expand its emergency medical coverage is officially underway. Volunteer firefighter Dan Leseberg, recently hired by the district, has reported to Unitek’s 14-day “boot camp” EMT training program in Arizona.
The training, funded by district resources at a cost of about $8,500 per student, is part of SIFPD’s plan to address its critical staffing shortage. With only one EMT currently covering the district around the clock, Chief Bill Lutze said the accelerated program is intended to bring additional support online quickly.
The district has authorization for up to two recruits at Unitek and also plans to offer a local EMT course this fall for additional volunteers.
Locals Push Back on Food Bank Cuts, Call for Emergency Preparedness in Southeast Inyo
The Sheet reported on Sept. 13 that Inyo Mono Advocates for Community Action (IMACA), the nonprofit that runs the only food bank in the Eastern Sierra, has scaled back due to federal budget cuts—closing distribution sites, cutting staff, and ending service in Tecopa. At a recent Inyo County Board of Supervisors meeting, locals from Tecopa and Shoshone voiced alarm, warning that southeast Inyo families are being left without vital support.
John Muccio said, “The food bank makes a difference in the quality of my life. I see many large families who will go hungry without it. People are in a panic.”
Patrick Donnelly added that the program had been serving 50–60 households in the area, calling it the “last thread of the social safety net.” He cited local statistics showing median income at $27,000, poverty at 33%, median age at 68, and unemployment at 11%. “The last time we got food was in May,” he said.
IMACA’s executive director, Kelly Barceloux, explained that supplemental grant funding was cut and the Northern Nevada Food Bank—one of IMACA’s key partners—lost 500 million pounds of supply. She said Tecopa’s site typically closes in summer due to heat, but unlike previous years it will not reopen this fall.
That justification has not sat well locally. This week, Cam Meyer, a board member of the Southern Inyo Fire Protection District (SIFPD), urged residents via Facebook to “make your voice heard” by signing a letter to the Inyo Supervisors. The letter, drafted on behalf of southeast Inyo communities, stresses that there is no “seasonal closure” of Tecopa—dozens of residents stay year-round—and demands a long-term solution to food insecurity. Suggested fixes include county-backed funding for volunteer-run food distribution or “food cards” redeemable at Pahrump grocery stores.
The letter also raises a second, related concern: the lack of emergency preparedness during prolonged power outages. Over Labor Day weekend, Tecopa endured a 3.5-day blackout during extreme heat, and the community center was open only three hours as a cooling site. Residents are calling for extended hours, volunteer-run staffing, and automatic protocols to open the center in future emergencies.
“Food distribution and emergency preparedness form the backbone of a public health issue that has the potential to be devastating locally,” the letter warns. It closes by urging county leadership to collaborate with local partners, while expressing support for District 5 Supervisor Will Wadelton.
Meanwhile, IMACA continues to serve more than 400 families across Inyo and Mono counties and is seeking new funding, donations, and volunteers. But for southeast Inyo, the fight to keep food and cooling resources available is now firmly on the public agenda.
Local Priorities Feature Prominently in Supervisor Wadelton’s Reports
Inyo County Supervisor Will Wadelton, who represents Tecopa and southern Inyo, has placed local issues at the center of his recent board reports while balancing countywide responsibilities and personal challenges.
At the September 2 Board of Supervisors meeting, Wadelton recounted a recent visit to Tecopa, where he joined a community meeting with Animal Control, Public Works’ Building & Safety Division, and Environmental Health. He also toured the proposed site of a new Charleston View Fire Department station—part of ongoing efforts to expand fire protection capacity in the region.
Two weeks earlier, during the August 19 meeting, Wadelton announced that he and his wife Amanda would be traveling to Tecopa, Shoshone, and Charleston View to meet directly with residents. He paired that announcement with news from Independence, where Fire Chief Joe Cappello confirmed that the community’s volunteer fire department had been approved to provide Advanced Life Saving EMS services as of August 5—a milestone for rural emergency care.
That same meeting also carried a personal note: Wadelton shared that his home had been struck by fire the previous night. He publicly thanked the Olancha-Cartago and Lone Pine volunteer fire departments, CalFire, the Inyo County Sheriff’s Department, the California Highway Patrol, Southern Inyo Hospital ER staff, the 911 dispatcher, and numerous friends and neighbors for their swift response and support.
Alongside these district-focused updates, supervisors also unanimously accepted a $67,000 grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety to fund the Traffic Records Improvement Project. The initiative will modernize how the county tracks accident reports, DUI arrests, and citations, improving both accuracy and accessibility of records. The grant is contingent on approval from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, execution of a formal agreement with the state, and adoption into the county’s 2025–2026 budget.
Wadelton’s recent updates also carry a personal weight. The fire at his family home underscored, in the most immediate way, the importance of strong local emergency services. For both Will and Amanda, the experience brought into sharp focus the very public safety priorities he advocates for on behalf of Tecopa and other southern Inyo communities. As they continue to recover, many in the community extend their best wishes to the Wadeltons, recognizing that their commitment to public service has been tested in the same ways as the neighbors they represent.
Tecopa Facebook Chat Fractures After Generational Rift
A burst of online drama has shaken Tecopa’s small but vocal community forums, where an attempt to forge common ground has instead widened generational divides.
According to one participant, the so-called “everyone but Nicole” chat — a private discussion thread that formed in opposition to this publication — “just blew up in spectacular fashion” when one of its most outspoken members, Adrian Wilton, local proprietor of the Airbnb Lake Tecopa (formerly A Second Wind), began asserting his generational perspective.
“I also understand as a younger property owner (born in 87) in Tecopa I come from a different generation of thought,” Wilton wrote. He continued, “I imagine we will see more millennials and Gen Z invest in the town over the years and I’d like to pave the way for them by doing this dirty work with you folks now.”
That framing did not sit well with everyone. One participant responded in part: “the not-so-subtle inference that us old timers are on our way out anyway and we don’t really know how the world works anymore. That’s a microaggression. Insisting that you are right and unwilling to listen to other people’s point of view is a trait often associated with narcissism.”
Quipping on their way out, “I think I’ll go back to Happyville and take my chances with Nicole.”
The reaction to Wilton’s remarks was swift: several of the more productive “old-school Tecopa folks” left almost immediately.
Another added in frustration: “I’ll be honest, I was happier and thought better of this community when I wasn’t on these awful group chats. I’m out of here, if you need me you know where to find me and if you don’t know where to find me then you probably don’t need me.”
The group itself had emerged as an exclusionary alternative to the legendary local Facebook chat thread known as Happyville, formed in protest against this publication’s practice of quoting members of the community in a community forum. It quickly devolved into a witch hunt for anybody who may have been a source or supporter of this publication. But what remains of the “everyone but Nicole” list is now said to be largely composed of Wilton, local bar operator Dan Leseberg, who started the chat and runs his mother’s establishment Death Valley Brewing, as well as a handful of Leseberg’s supporters. Sources tell TecopaCabana that Wilton has become highly influential on Leseberg’s thinking and actions.
The flare-up reflects deeper questions about Tecopa’s future: whether its fragile desert economy and close-knit culture can accommodate both a new generation of transplants and the seasoned locals who have sustained the town for decades.
As of publication, however, the pendulum appeared to be swinging back. Community members who had just recently deserted Happyville were being added back into the chat, suggesting that Tecopa’s legendary digital gathering place may remain the central forum for neighbors to hash out their differences for yet another season — in all their messy, desert-town fashion.
“Back in the old chat again, definitely like it better here for all its warts,” said a relieved local.
Amargosa Conservancy Expands Public Outreach with New Video Series
The Amargosa Conservancy has been steadily broadening its public education efforts this summer, using its YouTube channel as a hub for in-depth discussions on the future of the Amargosa Basin and the fragile ecosystems that depend on it.
One recent program, Battles on the Bitter River: What’s Next in the Fight to Save Ash Meadows and the Amargosa Basin, featured Campaigns Director Mason Voehl, who offered a clear-eyed assessment of the challenges and opportunities ahead. “Mason Voehl breaks down the current state of the basin: threats, opportunities, and key issues facing AC and its allies in the coming year,” the Conservancy said in promoting the event. His presentation underscored the interconnected pressures of groundwater pumping, development proposals, and conservation campaigns shaping the future of the river corridor.
The Conservancy also spotlighted the region’s extraordinary biodiversity in the second installment of its 2025 Summer Webinar Series: Rare Plants, Seedbanking, and Alkaline Wetland Restoration in the Amargosa. Presented by Morrigan DeVito alongside Naomi Fraga, Ph.D. of the California Botanic Garden, the session explored efforts to protect endemic desert flora, establish seed banks as insurance against extinction, and restore alkaline wetlands that serve as irreplaceable habitat for rare and endangered species.
By archiving these events online, the Conservancy is building a growing library of accessible resources that bring the science and advocacy work of the Amargosa Basin to a wider audience. For residents and visitors alike, the channel offers an opportunity to engage with pressing ecological questions and hear directly from the researchers and advocates shaping the region’s future.
The full series, including these latest discussions, can be viewed on the Amargosa Conservancy’s YouTube channel.
Death Valley Hot Springs to Reopen October 1
Delight’s Hot Springs Resort, also known locally as Death Valley Hot Springs, will reopen for the season on October 1, welcoming visitors back to its desert pools and mineral baths.
The resort’s seasonal closure through the hottest summer months is a longstanding tradition in Tecopa. Though some of the resorts did stay open through the summer this year, businesses typically align their schedules with cooler fall weather and the return of travelers to the Mojave. As October approaches, the hot springs are among the first to signal the start of the community’s busy season.
Delight’s offers overnight accommodations, private soaking tubs, and access to a set of spring-fed pools. It has long been a magnet for tourists seeking both relaxation and the stark beauty of the surrounding desert.
The October reopening aligns with the return of other seasonal businesses in Tecopa, and comes just ahead of the area’s fall events and festivals. Together, these re-openings mark the unofficial start of high season in the Amargosa Basin, when visitors from around the world pass through on their way to nearby Death Valley National Park.
For many, the return of the hot springs resorts signals not only the start of a new season of tourism, but also a revival of the rhythms of desert life—when cooler days, community gatherings, and the hum of travelers return to this quiet corner of Inyo County.
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