Organizers are looking for a big crowd Saturday at Casey Jones Distillery for the concert commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Woodstock music festival.
“We can handle 5,000 to 6,000, and I hope we have that,” distillery co-owner Peg Hays said late Thursday morning as she juggled phone calls and last-minute details for the big event.
Billed as the Lights Out Festival, it will feature the Woodstock Rock Orkestra in the evening, plus food and other music earlier in the day and camping through the weekend.
The concert is a fundraiser for the Pennyroyal Arts Council.
If parking fills up at the distillery on Witty Lane, overflow parking and a free shuttle service will be available at the nearby Sinking Fork Elementary School on Kentucky 91.
Gates will open at 10 a.m., and two food trucks will begin serving at lunch. Two more food truck will join the line-up for supper.
Pre-tune music by Alonzo Pennington’s band, The Extraordinary Gentlemen, who play soul and funk, will start at 2:30 p.m.
The main concert with the Woodstock Rock Orkestra, starts at 7 p.m.
Hays said the Kentucky Department of Agriculture has sprayed the grounds for mosquitoes, and other amenities will be available to keep the crowd comfortable, including umbrellas, sunscreen and bottled water for sale.
The distillery will serve drinks and moonshine popsicles.
There are options for staying cool in the air conditioned distillery building, and everyone is encouraged to bring chairs and blankets for the main concert.
Several campers have rented space for the weekend. Some are local and others are traveling through the area and plan to stop in Christian County for the concert.
General admission tickets are $25, and children 12 and under pay $10. Adults can also get special VIP admission to an area with a bar, tables and chairs at $37.50 per ticket. Tickets will be available at the gate.
Food will be served by Holiday Burger, Soul Fuel, Hugging Tree and Vansauwa’s Tacos.
Additional information and advance tickets are available at www.pennyroyalarts.org and www.caseyjonesdistillery.com.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
