Tickets for the Aug. 19-20 festival are now on sale at whimmydiddle.com. The festival will kick-off that Friday with the first band at 6:30 p.m. Gates will open at 5:30 p.m.
On Saturday, the Whimmydiddle starts up again with the first act playing at 3:30 p.m. There are three bands set for Friday and five bands will play on Saturday.
“We like to do these two-day festivals with back-to-back shows to bring the community together, and we get to hear more music. You can make a weekend or a day of it. It’s a good event for the city and for the businesses, and we really enjoy putting on Whimmydiddle,” Helms said.
On Friday, the line-up will include Logan Halstead, Sierra Ferrell and headliner Shovels & Rope.
The lineup on Saturday will feature Drayton Farley, Cole Chaney & Wolfpen Branch, Goodbye June. Larkin Poe and headliner Charley Crockett.
“The third time is a charm — Charley Crockett will be headlining on Sat., Aug. 20.” Helms said. “He was supposed to play Whimmydiddle in 2020, and that’s when COVID happened, everything got shutdown, and we cancelled Whimmydiddle. Then, he was booked in 2021, last summer, and someone in his crew got COVID, and we had to cancel the show, so we are going to give it another go this year,” Helms said.
Several of the artists on the 2022 lineup were scheduled to play Whimmydiddle previously, but the shows were cancelled due to to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Larkin Poe is another band that was on the Whimmydiddle lineup back in 2020 when it got cancelled. So, we are trying to do right by a lot of these artists who were supposed to play in 2020. When we announced that lineup, a lot of people were really excited about Larkin Poe, Charley Crockett and Sierra Ferrell,” Helms said.
In 2021, Whimmydiddle was held in a different format — it became a four-concert series that was spread out across the summer concert season. This change was due to COVID-19, the limited capacity and safety protocols at the venue.
“The cool thing about it is we still pulled off Whimmydiddle last year. We changed up the format, we did it as free admission, and we spread it out over four separate dates. The really great part about that is IBEW Local 648 still sponsored the event, and even chipped in a little extra to help sponsor some of the shows, because we had so many different shows last year,” Helms said.
IBEW Local 648 has sponsored Whimmydiddle since the festival’s inception.
With a mix of country sounds at the core of the event, artists have presented a variety of musical styles from progressive bluegrass and Americana to rock-blues and more. The event has drawn more than 3,000 people to the park on one night. In 2019, concertgoers traveled from more than 17 different states for Whimmydiddle.
The event serves as a fundraiser for RiversEdge and the Hamilton Parks Conservancy, which are both nonprofit groups.
MORE DETAILS
COST: A two-day, paid admission ticket is $80. A two-day VIP ticket is $140. Single day tickets for Whimmydiddle are $50.
INFO AND TICKETS: whimmydiddle.com
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