Few Outside Lands acts inspire fervor anywhere near Chappell Roan, whose fans are storming Golden Gate Park Sunday in pink cowgirl and cowboy looks.
But for anyone who didn’t plan ahead, one festival vendor is selling cotton-candy-colored headgear, allowing everyone to join the Pink Pony Club — as the singer-songwriter specifically requested via her Instagram.
Alec Huth of Fruit Face SF, a local brand known for its rodeo-themed baby tees, simply cannot keep them in stock.
“I filled my wagon with as many as I could fit,” she said from the merch tent, where people waited in line for a piece of this year’s unquestioned feminomenon. “I had to walk to my car, which is parked kinda far — but I walked all the way there and filled it back up with hats.”
Huth and her two employees don’t know how many they’ve sold overall, but they estimate that it could be in the hundreds.
“We got mobbed, she said. “I’ve lost count.”
Even when she was able to get away from the booth and re-up, it took her a while to come back with that wagon, “because so many people were asking me to get a hat.”
It sounds like it might inspire a little craziness, with people snatching hats out of one another’s hands — but Roan’s entire persona of “faux-queen” drag empowerment would be at odds with such misbehavior.
Huth, who cited “Red Wine Supernova” as her favorite Chappell Roan song, confirmed everyone was well-behaved, and she would be able to go see the show.
“We’ve all been kind of rotating in and out,” she said, preventing any need to hang a proverbial back-in-45-minutes sign. “Chappell has been the one I’m most excited to see.”
Sunday’s vibes are strong with country, so fans could ostensibly keep those hats on for the rest of the day. After Chappell Roan, the genre-spanning Georgia native Teddy Swims is on the docket, with Post Malone scheduled to play a country set and psychedelic alt-country superstar Sturgill Simpson closing out the weekend.