The event that Kingsportians live and die for: Fun Fest. Yesterday at noon, Fun Fest organizers held a press conference and announced this year's logo design and performers at the popular "stadium concerts." Apparently, there are gonna be some pretty good shows for this year's 25 anniversary celebration. The much popular AFG concert will have some top country performers; this year Trace Adkins and Billy Currington will be headlining. The Friday-night Beach Party will feature Collective Soul and Edwin McCain (?? sorry but I have no idea who these people are ??). The final-night Eastman Concert will headline Travis Tritt. Looks like organizers went all out this year trying to get some top concerts for this 25th year. Obviously, it has come with a price though. For the first time ever, organizers are begging the community for money; this year they have started the "Friends of Festus" program. People who donate $100-$200 get some special benefits, such as free tickets, reserved parking, and reserved seating at the stadium concerts. Sounds interesting. I just want to see how successful this Fun Fest fund is. It would be nice if it went well because that would mean bigger & better events in the future. Organizers have also announced some new events this year. There will be a tomato contest, a 
"Pedal, Paddle, Skedaddle Triathlon," and a Global Fest featuring the ethnic groups of Kingsport (which is mostly Chinese & Japanese restaurants featuring all-you-can-eat buffets). I am really interested to see the triathlon; the Crazy 8s race is always extremely popular so it will be interesting to see if this event prospers. A big change this year is with the tremendously popular AFG Treasure Hunt (click the link to read my AFG adventure last year). Apparently, AFG has dropped their sponsorship and Pal's has taken its place. It will now be called the Pal's Treasure Quest with new prizes of $2500 and $100,000 instead of a trip to Disney World. Fun Fest organizers also revealed this year's design of the very popular Fun Fest tshirt. Looks like this year's design will be nice and not funky like last year. This year's shirt will also be available at Food City in addition to the traditional Fun Fest Store in the mall. I am disappointed, however, that they still have brought back Ice Cream at Allandale; I was really hoping they would bring it back for the 25th anniversary, but I guess not. Sadness. Oh well, looks like this year's Fun Fest holds much promise.Click here to read the Times-News article on the news conference. (free registration required)
Collective Soul and Edwin McCain are pretty good! "I'll Be" was McCain's most notable song. Neither have had any songs out in the past couple of years, though. I know that's useless info, but oh well! :) I hope you're having a great summer!
ReplyDelete