by Arya S Hammon

Captain Klas at the Colorado City Music Festival in 2020. Photo by Donna Conversano

The Colorado City Music Festival is finally returning to stunning Maxwell Park on Saturday, April 24th. This event is greatly anticipated after last years’ was postponed, limited, and nearly shut down by the pandemic. The event organizers hope this will be the best festival yet. Rocking from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m., the festival will showcase many bands on the main stage: Captain Klaus, Jhett Black, The Blake Mason Band, and Hurricane’s own Red Dirt Girls, among many more. This year’s headliner is Cedar City cowboy singer Chris Peterson, a recent America’s Got Talent contestant. Children under 5 are given free entry, while tickets for children from the ages of 6 to 18 are only $5. General admission tickets are $20 if purchased online, or $25 if purchased at entry. 

An excellent variety of food and retail vendors are returning to the festival, alongside Bohemian Brewery’s beer garden and inflatable bounce houses for the kids. Bands from festivals past will take the stage, including The Rhyolite Sound, Tom Bennet & the Living Proof, and Thee Rozee & Worth Bistline. However, true to the festival’s mission of growth and development, organizers have expanded the festival in excellent ways this year.

Thee Rozee & Worth Bistline at the Colorado City Music Festival in 2020. Photo by Donna Conversano

One incredibly exciting change is the addition of the acoustic stage. Donated by Sonic Rodeo, this stage will allow for short sets between main stage performances for non-stop live music, all day long. This stage will accommodate lesser-known performers and singers, hand picked by Sonic Rodeo (which was recently founded by The Rhyolite Sound’s main singer Larry Rhea). The smaller stage will be just next to the beer garden, which is now nearer to the main stage as well. Gradient Sound, who first began working with the festival last year, will be running the main stage’s sound design this Saturday.

In another amazing development, the festival will offer off-site parking for the first time this year. Water Canyon Elementary school has donated their parking lot, and the Short Creek Dream Center is providing a shuttle service to and from the canyon until 9 p.m. If one prefers to stay later than the shuttles will allow, event organizers recommend arriving early to the festival and staying all day to obtain and keep a parking space! 

As always, festivalgoers are asked to bring cash to the event as cell service & bank card use is not available in Maxwell Park. The festival survives almost entirely on their ticket sales, and organizers warn about fake ticket sellers, particularly on their Facebook page. Any tickets not purchased at the gate or at this website will not be valid! While the Colorado City Music Festival makes wonders in tax revenue – which goes directly to the city of Hildale, UT – all profits must be put towards the next festival if it should continue. Festival organizers agree that as long as they can manage to put on another festival, they will.

Photo by Donna Conversano

Founders Tom Bennett and Dawn Black have found a sense of passion in this tiresome job. Bennett visited Short Creek years ago while on a one-man-band tour, and was immediately drawn to help revitalize the music scene. Black, on the other hand, was looking for something progressive to sink her teeth into when she moved back home after over 10 years. While the two of them will always keep the festival family friendly and affordable, they’ve still got big dreams, hoping to someday fill Maxwell Park to its 10,000 person limit! Whatever happens, helping the city grow along with the festival is the number one goal, they said.

To learn more about the Colorado City Music Festival, visit their website or Facebook page.