07/09/2022
See you in September!
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๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐: Blue Ridge Rock Festival ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ธ, ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐๐๐ฟ๐ป๐ ๐ช๐ถ๐๐ต ๐ ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐๐ป๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐ง๐ต๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ
The 6th annual Blue Ridge Rock Festival returns to Southern Virginia this September 8th-11th. The unique fan-driven mission of the Festival remains the same, though the event has undergone several key changes since last year.
Blue Ridge Rock Festival has been relocated to Virginia International Raceway (VIR), seated right on the North Carolina-Virginia state line. The near-1,400 acre โAutomotive Resortโ is four times the size of the site used last year, and is now Americaโs largest rock venue. Raceways have become very popular and successful homes to music festivals over the last decade, and this move marks the first time in Blue Ridgeโs history that the rock nโ roll destination will take place in a full-time event venue. VIRโs pre-existing infrastructure and personnel provide Blue Ridge with the venue support that they have long-coveted. The Raceway possesses paved roads throughout the Festival site, well-manicured grounds, pedestrian walkways, showers, bathrooms, and over 10,000 campsites.
Mike Hanley of FEP Live has now taken over the reins of Blue Ridge Rock Festival. Hanley is a veteran of producing large-scale festivals. He joins Blue Ridge as the eventโs Festival Director, a position he holds at several other major events, such as Wonderfront Music Festival. Hanley has hand-selected an expanded executive and support staff for the Festival that includes Site Operations Director, Brian Reeves of Reeves Event Services (Austin City Limits Festival).
Due to the eventโs exponential growth, Blue Ridge hired third-party companies to run many of the Festivalโs departments in 2021. Management consistently acknowledged that many of these items fell short of expectation and actively solicited โ and more importantly have listened โ to critical fan feedback. To better deliver โThe Fan Driven Rock Experienceโ this year, the new executive team has recruited a host of new, proven entities to ensure successful oversight and implementation of every facet of the fanโs experience.
Contracted to handle all camping planning, services, and ex*****on this year is In The Yard Productions (LOCKN Festival). In The Yard has worked alongside VIR and Festival Management to expand camping check-in hours, while implementing a 10-lane camping check-in to streamline entry and significantly lessen wait times. To better serve needs within the campgrounds, Festival Outfitters (Okeechobee Festival) has come onboard to provide multiple, expansive campstores for what is now the largest campgrounds of any domestic rock festival.
The new merchandise company managing the Festivalโs online and day of show merchandise creation and sales is none other than The Bright Pursuit (Boston Calling Festival), regarded by many as the leading merchandise concessionaire in the Festival space. TBP will also be staffing and managing all Artist Merchandise Sales at the event, an area that is often overlooked, but is a component fans look forward to visiting when attending a Festival.
For the first time in history, an ADA company has joined the Festivalโs deployment. All ADA planning and services will be handled by Ten Fifty Entertainment (Coachella).
After many food vendors were forced to cancel due to labor shortages in 2021, Blue Ridge has partnered with Dream Weaver Productions (Mile 0 Festival) to facilitate more robust food offerings not only in the Festival Arena, but in the campgrounds as well.
The skilled team at Virginia International Raceway have played an excellent support role in the planning, and will continue to assist in the ex*****on of the Festival. They will be handling elements such as Waste Management, as they do with all of their events. VIR, Blue Ridge, and PST Event Engineering (Electric Forest Festival) have conducted numerous meetings for months now with VDOT and local municipalities to minimize traffic. The Festival was also able to secure partnerships with the three leading cell phone providers (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile) to have each company bring in portable mobile cellular towers (COWโs) that provide temporary network and wireless coverage to a location where coverage is minimal or compromised.
Blue Ridge Rock Festival has become a true underdog story of the rock world. No corporation. No deep financial pockets. Just a dream and a passion to create a fan driven experience. These types of festivals almost never make it to where Blue Ridge now stands, on the edge of a dream fulfilled. Why? Because of you the fan. It has been your passion that has propelled this festival to the top of the mountain. Blue Ridge 2022 is what the dream looks like.
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ABOUT BLUE RIDGE ROCK FESTIVAL
In a time where most Festivals are produced or owned by a corporation, Blue Ridge Rock Festival continues to be an anomaly. An event started by three college students back in 2017 with no funding, grew to becoming 1 of the 10 largest music festivals in America last year. The rapid expansion can be attributed to the unique โfan drivenโ approach to the Festivalโs curation. To date, Blue Ridge is perhaps the only Festival in the country that conducts fan polls to help craft the booking of their artist lineup, as well as many other elements each year, including their signature low drink prices. Despite a few ownership changes through the years, the Festival has been able to overcome the corporate grasp to remain privately owned and fan focused.
In 2019, the Festival launched a program called Blue Ridge Gives Back, an initiative designed to specifically help the rock and metal community. From groceries, to paying rent, to clothing drives, and discounted tickets โ the goal of the organization is to provide support to a group that is often misjudged or overlooked.
๐ธ Trevor Williams Photography
