OSHKOSH – So far, so good.
Organizers of XRoads41 said they were more than satisfied with the turnout for the inaugural country music festival after 28,500 people attended the three-day event earlier this month at Oshkosh Festivals Park.
Oshkosh Festivals LLC Marketing Director Mindy Klein expressed the sentiment while listening to some of the feedback from the Aug. 7-9 festival.
“People came out and supported us, the artists turned in great performances and we had great weather for the most part, so we thought it was a great first year,” Klein said.
“We are getting lots of feedback and most of it is positive, but we still think there’s a lot of room for improvement and growth so we will use this as a starting point to build from here.”
It was the first event of its kind staged at the expansive grounds since Hypervibe LLC filed for bankruptcy and canceled Country USA and Rock USA five years ago.
And XRoads41 delivered on its promise to return major country acts to Oshkosh, as Brooks & Dunn and Old Dominion headlined the inaugural festival.
The event even featured live performances from legendary band Journey and multi-Grammy Award winner Shaggy.
“We’re going on the notion of doing things like someone’s Spotify playlist or Apple playlist because most people don’t just listen to one genre,” Klein explained.
“We do hear the people when they say they want country, but there are other county festivals in Wisconsin and we want ours to stand out.”
Klein acknowledged Oshkosh Festivals LLC could eventually look into adding an all-rock festival to the calendar considering the huge demand to replace the now-defunct Rock USA.
But the organizers are more focused on improving the setup of the grounds and nailing down acts for next year’s XRoads41, slated for Aug. 7-9, 2025.
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“What we’re hearing most from our customer feedback is that they’d like us to replace Rock USA, but we’ll have to do our research to see if the market would support it,” Klein said.
“I never say never because if the right opportunities come along then who knows? But XRoads41 took two years’ worth of planning, so it may be a while before we can add another festival.
“Right now, we’re looking to continue the notion of a predominantly country festival and mixing other genres with that and getting more people to support us as they see we are the real deal.”
Contact Justin Marville at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Oshkosh Northwestern: XRoads41 music festival in Oshkosh: 2024 attendance, plans for future
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