Voices of America Country Music Fest sees influx of attendees
Aug. 10—Lines to get into West Chester Twp.'s Voice of America MetroPark reached from the the front gate of the Voice of America Country Music Fest to the parking lot for the festival's first night Thursday, Aug. 8.
This year marks the second year of the festival and touts headliners Keith Urban, Jason Aldean and Sam Hunt. Crowd sizes are expected to grow from last year's to come see headliners Keith Urban, Jason Aldean and Sam Hunt.
Don Moeller, an area native, attended the festival last year and said he's looking forward to bigger crowds across the weekend. He said he knows more artists this year, something he attributed to how smoothly the event ran last year.
"I think people just heard about how great the event is and they're showing up this year," Moeller said. "I wouldn't be surprised to see the crowd double from last year."
Jacob Spangernberg and Abriella Beyerlein are two people who did just that. The pair are from the area but said they didn't hear about last year's event until it was too late. They were prepared for it this time around and bought their tickets the second day they were available.
Spangernberg and Beyerlein bought four-day passes to experience the whole festival. Along with hearing the various acts, they decided to follow the themes of each day starting with camo on Thursday.
Although the two of them were in line before gates opened at 5 p.m. on Thursday, they said they were looking forward to the weekend more than anything.
"Saturday sounds pretty cool because we've seen Jayson Aldean already, but Keith Urban's on Saturday," Spangernberg said. "it's a longer day and it's got more people that we haven't seen before."
"We've been talking about it for days," Beyerlein said.
When the gates opened, the crowd was released into a compound with two stages, more than 15 food vendors and room for both lawn chairs and standing. Concertgoers can bring their own lawn chairs or rent one from a vendor who has 2,800 for each day. The vendor expects to rent every chair every day of the festival.
Two Ohio natives, Blake Tyler and Thomas Mac kicked off the festival before Larry Fleet and Ernest closed the first day.
The festival ends on Sunday after more than 30 artists play.
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How to go
What: Voices of America Country Music Fest
Where: Voice of America MetroPark, West Chester Twp.
Hours: Acts start at 1:30 p.m. each day and end at 11:30 p.m. except for Diplo's Saturday set, which ends at 12:20 a.m.
Tickets: Single-day and multi-day passes are available on the festival's website: https://voacountrymusicfest.com/tickets