ANAHEIM, Calif. — Boots in the Park is making its mark all over Southern California and beyond.
The traveling country music festival with varying lineups began at SilverLakes Sports Complex in Norco in 2018 and the brand quickly spread to other cities in California, including Bakersfield, San Diego, Fresno and Santa Clarita, as well as outside the state with shows in Gilbert and Tempe, Arizona.
The single-day flagship event returns to Norco on Saturday with headliner Cole Swindell, who will be joined by Flo Rida, LoCash, Blanco Brown, Chase Matthew and Norco-born singer-songwriter Presley Tennant.
“The brand for Boots in the Park has been expanding greatly,” Steve Thacher, founder of Orange County-based production company Activated Events, said during a recent phone interview. “Almost every year it seems like we’re opening up a new target to bring the event to.”
After pausing in 2020 due to the pandemic shutdowns, the event returned in 2021 with headliner Chris Young and came back with a sold-out event in 2022 led by Tim McGraw in March and Blake Shelton headlined a second installment of Boots in the Park in Norco on June 17. This year is expected to sell out before the show begins, Thacher added.
He also curates every lineup himself, which makes for a more personalized touch when it comes to an artist-to-fan experience. To give it a fun twist, Thacher and the team wanted to add hip-hop acts to the mix and reached out to “My House,” “Low” and “Whistle” rapper Flo Rida about joining the cowboy crew in 2023.
The lineup also includes Blanco Brown, a country singer and rapper from Atlanta, Georgia, known for songs like “The Git Up” and “High Horse,” which features Nelly and R&B, Gospel and country singer-songwriter Breland. The idea to blend these genres isn’t too out of left field, given the rise of artists like Lil Nas X, and rapper Nelly has been performing on the country music festival circuit for years, having collaborated with acts like Tim McGraw and Florida Georgia Line in the past.
“One thing that we’ve seen in all of our Boots in the Park shows, whether it be in San Diego or Norco, as we’re changing over the artists and we have our DJs play music, a lot of times they’ll play country music, but they’ll also slip in more commercial house and commercial hip-hop songs and the crowd loves it,” Thacher said. “Guys like Flo Rida and Nelly have really kind of crossed over in multiple genres and fans get super excited. (Flo Rida) puts on a fantastic show and anyone that just likes music is going to love it.”
In 2021, Boots in the Park moved into Waterfront Park in San Diego, and returns to that venue this year with Carrie Underwood, Walker Hayes, Jimmie Allen, Gavin DeGraw, Ingrid Andress and Tyler Rich on April 1. This year, it took over a brand new space at Central Park in Santa Clarita with Dustin Lynch, Chris Lane, Tyler Hubbard and more on March 4.
Activated Events also produces the Coastal Country Jam, a single-day event previously held at Huntington State Beach that will return for the first time since 2019 in a new home at Marina Greek Park in Long Beach, Sept. 16-17. Tim McGraw and Blake Shelton are scheduled as the event headliners, with support from Maren Morris, Dustin Lynch, Scotty McCreery, Kidd G and more.
Unlike Coastal Country Jam, Thacher said they’ve been able to more easily grow the Boots in the Park brand in new areas.
“Coastal Country Jam is very hard to duplicate,” Thacher said. “There’s limited beaches and coastal areas that we can’t just as easily pick up and take anywhere else. With Boots in the Park, it’s more of a traveling festival that we can absolutely take to different cities. We’ve found success with it and there’s other markets out there that I think are still being underserved and that we can be very successful in. The artists we have on the lineups always express their interest in what we do and that’s why we continue to add new markets.”
Music fans heading out to the Norco event on March 11 can expect new Instagram-worthy art activations, line dancing, an expanded cornhole tournament, a car show and, of course, BBQ food trucks and booths and a lot of cold beer for sale. The art installations are just the latest addition to the rapidly-expanding brand and Thacher said they don’t plan on stopping there.
“There’s new markets already in the works for Boots in the Park, so sit tight for future reveals,” he said. “It’s exciting and we can’t wait to keep going.”
Boots in the Park: Norco
When: 1-10 p.m. March 11
Where: Silverlakes Sports Complex, 5555 Hamner Ave., Norco
Tickets: General admission starts at $99; VIP starts at $199. All tickets are available at bootsinthepark.com.
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