Shane Profitt and Tyler Braden will be the featured country music performers at the 2024 Festival of the Bells, committee president Tom Zile announced Friday.

The 2024 festival is scheduled for July 4-6 at Crossroads Park in Hillsboro.

The Festival of the Bells returns to Crossroads Park in Hillsboro on July 4-6 and will be themed after “Small Town American Dream,” according to Tom Zile, Festival of the Bells committee president.

The free featured music acts will be Christian music artist Riley Clemmons on Thursday and country musicians Shane Profitt and Tyler Braden on Friday and Saturday, respectively.

Zile said there will be multiple new additions or changes to the 2024 Festival of the Bells.

He said one of those would be the introduction of a queen contest. He said the registration and other details should be out in May sometime, after which the announcement of the winner would be on Thursday evening of the festival.

Zile said another change will be the moving of the parade to noon on Saturday. He said the change will allow for people to be off work and not have to rush to make the event. He also said the committee is reaching out to those in the Jeep community to allow them to have their vehicles decorated and participate.

Tiffany McCoy, vice president of the committee, said that businesses normally aren’t charged to participate in the parade, calling it “free advertisement.” She said anyone interested in having a float or participating in the parade should contact Scott Miller, Highland County 911 coordinator.

Zile said there will be a new and larger ride company at this year’s event. He said an issue in the past has been people asking for wristbands where they could pay one price and ride for the day. He said new people supplying the rides promised that they would do that as well as bring more and larger rides than in previous years.

He also said there will be a couple of new food vendors. He said the last couple of years “for whatever reason,” the festival hasn’t had pizza, but this year they do.

Zile said the festival is working in tandem with the campout weekend at the Highland County Fairgrounds happening at the same time. He said the festival will have a link on its website where, if people want to stay at the campgrounds, they can do that and make reservations through the festival’s website.

He said one other new event will be a pickleball tournament.

Clemmons released her first single in 2017 and has had releases “Broken Prayers”, “Fighting For Me”, “Healing”, “Over and Over”, “Keep On Hoping” and her most recent “I’m Not Alone”.

Profitt is a self-proclaimed “salt-of-the-earth southerner with a straight-shooting swagger and kind smile.” Profitt was working overtime shifts in 2021 an hour south of Nashville but is now performing at the Ryman Auditorium and the Grand Ole Opry. He is known for songs such as “Still Picks Up” and a three-song collection titled “Maury Country Line,” which includes “Better Off Fishin’”, “Guys Like Me” and “How It Oughta Be”.

Braden is from the small town of Slapout, Alabama, where he began his musical journey playing guitar and writing songs. He became a firefighter and then moved to Nashville to continue his music, meeting his manager in January 2017. Braden has performed songs like “What Do They Know”, “Try Losing One” and a six-track collection called “Neon Grave.”

Zile said a local performer, Richard Lynch will open on Friday night at 7 p.m. On Saturday, Blue Steel will perform at 1 p.m.

He said events like three-on-three basketball, a 5K run and an antique car show will return.

“I personally am excited about the new schedule and the parade being on Saturday,” Zile said. “I think that that’s gonna open up a lot more opportunities for people to come to be part of the parade. The other thing, I think with us having more music on Saturday, like on Saturday afternoon, it’s gonna draw people. So, there’ll be something going on. In the past, there’s been kind of a lag in the afternoons and so I think this schedule sets up for there to be more draw for people in the afternoon as well rather than just in the evening.”

Reach Jacob Clary at 937-402-2570.