The 25th Oregon Jamboree kicks off Friday, Aug. 4, on the Sweet Home High School athletic field with a line-up headlined by Jason Aldean, Little Big Town and Kenny Rogers.
“It should be a good year,” said second-year Director Robert Shamek Friday as he busily marked the field for installation of the city of tents, staging, fencing, towers and rows and rows of chairs that will fill the venue and extend into Sankey Park.
In addition to the headliners, this year’s event will feature a mix of 23 established and rising stars who will perform on the Main Stage at the high school and on the Spirit Mountain Casino Stage under the trees in the park.
Aldean, Friday’s headliner, is “one of the biggest stars in country music right now,” Shamek said. His appearance at this year’s festival was announced at last year’s Jamboree, is a two-time ACM Entertainer of the Year who’s sold 15 million albums and had 19 No. 1 hits.
Little Big Town will headline Saturday, their first return to the Jamboree since 2005 when they appeared on the stage as an up-and-coming band whose second album, released that year, went platinum. Since then they’ve won multiple awards as performers and for their recordings.
Capping the festival Sunday night will be Rogers, one of the most iconic and versatile acts in the music world over the past 40 years, who is on what he has announced will be his farewell tour.
“The line-up this year is nice; it probably fits everybody’s demographic,” Shamek said. “I am personally really looking forward to watching Kenny’s show.
“Unfortunately, I don’t usually get to watch shows because I’m working, but I plan on taking some time off Sunday night to watch part of that show.
“He fits a different demographic. I’m really excited to watch him and I’m in my early 40s.”
Friday’s line-up on the Main Stage, behind Aldean, will be Tucker Beathard, Cloverdayle at 5 p.m. and Maddie Leigh at 3 p.m.
Leading up to Little Big Town on Saturday will be the Scotty Mac Band, John King, Home Free, and Drake White and The Big Fire.
On Sunday, Johnny Black replaces Lauren Alaina as the kick-off act at noon due to scheduling difficulties, Shamek said. Alaina will perform at 3 p.m. on the Spirit Mountain Stage.
Shamek said he met Black, who lives in Australia, personally about 10 years ago when Black was performing on a cruise ship in Europe.
“We’ve stayed connected ever since,” Shamek said, noting that this will be Black’s first appearance at the Jamboree. “He’s super excited.”
Black’s performance will be followed by Eric Paslay and Chase Rice throughout the afternoon.
The now-traditional Kickoff Party will start things off officially from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 3, at the front gate of the festival, 816 18th Ave.
KRKT radio, a regular sponsor of the Jamboree, will broadcast live from the event, which will feature music by Black and local rising star Trevor Tagle. The event is open to the public and guests will have the opportunity to win a variety of prizes, including an Oregon Jamboree Super Fan Package, which includes meet-and-greets and Sweet Spot passes.
Hot dogs, chips and a soda will be available for $5 as a fund-raiser for the Sweet Home volleyball program, courtesy of the Sherri Gregory Home Team.
Shamek said this year’s Oregon Jamboree won’t involve too many changes, after some bigger switches last year that included an expanded schedule and a popular Bingo Tent on the grounds.
“We made so many changes last year, we decided not to make too many drastic changes this year,” he said.
One switch will move the sponsor hospitality pavilion to the left side of Weddle Bridge, which will essentially double the field exposure for sponsors and will give a little more space to Bear Garden 2, he said.
“Our sponsorship has really been growing, the last couple of years,” he said, adding that marketing staff have done “a wonderful job” bringing in new sponsors.
This year’s presenting sponsor is Best Western Premier Boulder Falls Inn, with other major sponsorships coming from Safeway, Spirit Mountain, Cracker Barrel, Cabella’s and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, along with three military branches – the Air Force, Marines and the National Guard.
Shamek said another addition this year is more ADA parking along 18th Avenue and in the Sweet Home Christian Church parking lot.
Also, he said, “we have really great food vendors – a really good variety” this year.
The Jamboree has increased its community outreach this year, beyond the satellite concerts it has put on in Corvallis, Bend and Portland in recent years.
This spring five performers put on shows at the Oregon Veterans Home in Lebanon, a line-up that included former Portland duo Cloverdayle, Lonesome Valley Rounders from Corvallis and Nash Brothers from Portland, all scheduled to perform at this year’s Jamboree. Local star Trevor Tagle also performed for the veterans.
Shamek called the series, which also included some concerts at Boulder Falls, the festival’s chief sponsor, “one of the funnest things we’ve done this year.”
Ticket sales were slow during the spring, but have “definitely picked up,” Shamek said. “We expect to be on track.”
Organizers would like to see 15,000-plus people, similar to the crowds The Jamobree drew two or three years ago.
“The goal is to have a full field,” he said, referring to the crowds in 2014 and 2015 that packed the athletic field.
A plethora of music festivals, coupled with the eclipse, makes for “an interesting year,” he said.