The 2022 Greene Countrie Towne Festival, sponsored by the Greenfield Rotary Club, will be held in downtown Greenfield Friday, July 15 through Sunday, July 17.
“We have some really big entertainment coming in this year starting Friday night with Hotel California, which is an Eagles tribute band, and they start at 8 p.m.,” said Andrew Surritt, one of the festival’s chairmen.
Ohio native Jess Kellie Adams, who is an emerging country artist out of Nashville, Tennessee, will kick off the show Saturday night at 6:45 p.m. She will be the opening act for Fresh Horses, a Garth Brooks tribute band fronted by Les Smith. “If you go to our Facebook page there are some videos there of them,” said Surritt. “You’d be hard pressed to tell the difference between Les and Garth.”
Both music shows and other entertainment scheduled throughout the weekend are free to the public.
Amusement rides will not be part of this year’s festival. “There are no amusement rides because of some of the changes during COVID there are only 10 or 11 ride companies left, and there are just not enough ride companies to cover all of the festivals, so the smaller festivals kind of get left behind,” said Surritt.
Surritt said he believes the entertainment will be top notch. “We went all out this year with the entertainment because of the 100th anniversary of the Rotary Club so our entertainment budget is somewhere between $24,000 and $26,000 for the entertainment this year.”
As in past years, the festival will provide plenty of food, arts, crafts and games. The popular car show sponsored by the Greenfield Antique Car Club will be held Saturday and will feature antique tractors from the Greenfield Antique Tractor Club.
The queen pageant sponsored by the Greenfield Women’s Queen Association will begin on the event’s main stage Friday night at 5 p.m. The new Miss Greene Countrie Towne will be crowned and will represent the festival at other events around the state. Other royalty to be crowned will include a prince, princess, and Little Miss and Junior Miss.
The annual Rotary Auction benefiting the Greenfield Rotary Club will begin Saturday at 1 p.m. It will feature a host of items including 10 limited edition prints created by local artist Tammy Wells. “This year’s print commemorates the 100 year anniversary of the Greenfield Rotary Club,” said Surritt.
The most current information about the festival can be found at facebook.com/GreeneCountrieTowneFestival/.
For a full schedule and more information about the festival, see pages 4-5 today.
Reach John Hackley at 937-402-2571.
