Iowa Country Music Festival Returns But With A Major Change

The music festival scene in Iowa has been changing rapidly over the past few years.

Forest City, Iowa has been the host of many country music festivals. The most recent event that has been set up at Heritage Park has been DenimFest.

Last year (2023) was the very first DenimFest. Event organizers brought in several major country acts.

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It was just announced that this country festival will be changing things up. 2024 will see the emergence of DenimFest Rocks. According to comedian and festival co-founder Joe Denim, this is what the people asked for.

“Last year we had a blast rocking cowboy boots while two-stepping to Big & Rich, Dierks Bentley and all my country music buddies on our stage in Forest City.  And then our team read all of the fan comments, emails and survey answers… the consensus was clear: Iowa wants to Rock ON STAGE for 2024..."

The Lore of DenimFest

For years, Tree Town was the country music festival that took place at the Forest City venue during the summer. In 2020, Country Thunder Music festivals took over the event.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the organizers had to cancel the very first Country Thunder Iowa.

In 2021, as fans were getting back out to music festivals, musicians and fans flocked to Forest City for stellar acts like Big & Rich, Old Dominion, Kane Brown, Hardy, and Lynyrd Skynyrd.

In 2022, Country Thunder Iowa returned to Heritage Park with some other big names in the country game.

Lainey Wilson, Lee Brice, Trace Adkins, and Kip Moore were just a few of the big names that took over the stage in the summer of 2022.

Usually the lineup for this festival would drop around six to seven months before the festival took place.

Then in November of 2022, the brand's social media and website went dark. While other Country Thunder iterations were already announcing lineups, Country Thunder Iowa was shutting off their website and socials.

Local comedian and musician Joe Denim ended up spear heading a brand new festival to take place at Heritage Park in Forest City called DenimFest.

The first DenimFest brought in big names like Dierks Bentley, Jelly Roll, Big & Rich, and Smashmouth.

After hearing feedback from the community, the festival organizers decided to make some changes.

Details About This Year's DenimFest ROCKS

The second Denimfest will be taking place at Heritage Park of North Iowa at 1225 Highway 69 South in Forest City.

For the 2024 festival, DenimFest Rocks is set for Labor Day weekend (August 30th through the September 2nd).

Pre-sale is set to go live on Tuesday, April 30th with three-day festival wristbands going for $99.

Festival organizers partnered with No Coast Large Cars Truck Show for 2024. In addition, there is set to be something new at the campgrounds called Friendship Hall Flea Market.

Read more about the event here.

Who Will Be Performing at the Festival?

No performers have been announced for this musical event yet, but Joe Denim says to expect the unexpected.

“DenimFest will always be eclectic no matter the overarching genre. Rock can be classic, hard, alternative, soft… With this pre-sale we are giving people the opportunity to buy early and cheap before we announce any artists.  We didn’t disappoint last year and have some big surprises in store for 2024!” Denim said in a statement.

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