Sean C. Morgan
The Sweet Home Economic Development Group’s new indie music festival won’t be held until next year
Staff members had been exploring what kind of lineup they could secure for the festival for 2013, with a final decision to go forward based on their success.
“The long and short of it, we were not able to secure a strong enough act to carry the festival in its inaugural year,” said Festival Director Erin Regrutto. They started looking late. The SHEDG Board approved the festival at its December meeting.
With the holidays, it meant staff members had January and February to look for talent, Regrutto said. “There just wasn’t a lot of availability.”
With that, SHEDG and festival staff are working on the 2014 event.
For the Oregon Jamboree, SHEDG’s three-day country music and camping festival, staff members work year-round on talent for each event.
They are already working on acquiring talent for the 2014 Jamboree, making sure artist routing lines up with other festivals and venues, Regrutto said.
Regrutto and her staff will continue to work on marketing and a web page for the new festival, she said. They likely won’t be active until they have an act to promote for 2014, possibly in November or December.
“The Jamboree is going really well,” Regrutto said. “Sales have been strong, and we’ve been able to cut some expenses in some key areas. We’re hopeful this year we’ll see some improvement to our profit margin.”
In the meantime, the Jamboree will continue its work in the community, Regrutto said. The event will again work with the Community Foundation on raising funds, like it has the past few years.
On the grounds, the Jamboree will add some new reserved seating, Regrutto said. The Jamboree has about 400 concertgoers on a waiting list for the seats. Reserved seats may be held as long as they are renewed each year.
The Jamboree expanded the reserved seating a couple of years ago, and it’s able to do it again, Regrutto said.
“I think that our lineup is really fantastic this year,” Regrutto said. “We’ve had a really great response to all our headliners. People are very excited to see Toby Keith. People are very, very excited to see Luke Bryan and Dwight Yoakam as well. He has a very, very strong following.”
This will be one of the few appearances Bryan will make in the region this year, Regrutto said.
The Oregon Jamboree will be held Aug. 2- 4 this year, featuring 22 country music shows on two stages.
For tickets or information, call the Oregon Jamboree at (541) 367-8800.