Since 2001, we have offered a special advance ticket option for those fans of progressive music that would like to both monetarily support the festival as well as get their choice of the best seats available for the show.

This Patron Program will once again be offered for NEARfest Apocalypse, to be held in June 2012. Due to the incredibly large demand for Patron tickets in the past, we use a lottery system in the interest of fairness

Sign-Up Window Dates
The Patron Sign-Up Window is now closed.
General ticket sales begin on Saturday, March 03, 2012 at 10:00 AM EST.

Sign-Up Start Date: Saturday, November 12, 2011 at 6:00 PM ET
Sign-Up End Date: Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at 9:00 PM ET

Lottery Process:
  1. On Saturday, November 12, 2011 at 6:00 PM EST, a sign-up web form will be activated on the NEARfest website. There will be a link from both the homepage and from this Patron Program page to the Sign-Up form. This sign-up form will be closed on Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at 9:00 PM EST. You can sign up at any time during this time window. There is no advantage to signing up early because the subsequent lottery will randomize all entries.
  2. The required fields on the web form will be:
            a. Your name
            b. Your email address
            c. Your phone number (in case we need to contact you urgently)
            d. The number of persons in your patron group (including yourself)
            e. The type of bundle you are purchasing (2-day or 3-day)
            f. The names of ALL other persons in your patron group
            g. The email addresses of ALL other persons in your patron group
    Note: If any of the above information is not provided, your submission will bounce and you will be prompted to fill in the missing fields.
  3. Please make sure that "nearfest.com" is on the white list for your email client. Otherwise, you may not receive the confirmation email message for your lottery submission. This is especially important for AOL users.
  4. Once the web form is closed, we will perform the randomization process on ALL submitted entries. After the lottery is performed, the top-ranked entry for a specific patron group will be retained. Any other entries submitted by other members of that particular patron group will be removed. For example, if all four persons in a patron group submit lottery entries, which received #3, #52, #78, and #101 in the lottery, only the #3 entry will be retained. Only the person in that group who submitted the entry assigned #3 will receive the subsequent patron program emails. Please be sure to have good communication within your patron group. Very often the "leader" of a patron group is NOT the person who will be receiving the important time-sensitive seat selection request emails. Once the lottery order has been set, you can request that the leader of your group be changed.
  5. ALL those who have signed up will receive an email from NEARfest with the URL for the Lottery ranking listing, so you can find where your group is ranked. This URL will also provide links to seating charts and a listing of seats that have previously been reserved for festival staff, VIPs, and prior rounds of patrons. We will also display the date on which your group will receive the crucial seat selection email. If you will be out of town on that date, please email Rob LaDuca with another contact person/email for your group.
  6. In lottery rank order, in groups of 30, prospective patrons will be emailed. Upon receipt, please check the list of already-claimed seats and the seat chart, and reply with a ranked list of your preferred seating choices, being sure to carefully follow the directions in the seat selection request email. YOU MUST REPLY WITHIN 48 HOURS. Failure to reply during the 48-hour period will result in your being moved to the back of the patron queue.
  7. Once the seat choices have been confirmed, the Patron will be emailed an invoice for payment. Due to our not-for-profit status, the difference between the Patron price and the actual ticket price is tax deductible. The invoice will include the NEARfest Tax ID Number. The Patron is to remit payment via check, money order, or by Credit Card through PayPal within six (6) weeks. If you pay with PayPal you must add 5% to your total to defray our costs. (PayPal recipient address = rob@nearfest.com)
  8. If you change your mind about participating in the Patron Program at any time before you select your seats, please let us know immediately. We understand that sometimes unexpected financial issues come up. Please respond to the seat selection emails even if to say "Sorry, we can't do the Patron Program after all." This will dramatically speed up the process.
  9. Prospective Patrons will be able to track the progress of the Patron ticket distribution by viewing the Lottery Rankings URL from time to time.
  10. Tickets and donation receipts will be mailed out starting the week after general ticket sales begin on Saturday, March 03, 2012 at 10:00 AM EST.
  11. Please note: We can only provide a donation receipt for the person that submits the check. For example, if we receive one check for four patron tickets, we cannot split the deduction among a party of four people.

Send any questions to us via email.

To Our Patrons
Thank you to all previous, current, and prospective patrons... NEARfest would not exist without you!