Tickets

Tickets are available for purchase at the Gage County Fairgrounds.Individual tickets for all three shows are available for $15 while a $35 “passport” is available through July 21. The passport allows entrance to all three shows. On July 22, the passport with be raised to $40.

The Gage County Fair traditionally attracts rising stars in the country music industry, and this year is no exception.

The grandstand entertainment at the fair will kick off Wednesday, July 22 as Heidi Newfield performs. Jake Owen is scheduled for Thursday, July 23 and Jack Ingram is set to perform Friday, July 24.

Tickets are available for purchase at the Gage County Fairgrounds, located in west Beatrice. Individual tickets for all three shows are available for $15 while a $35 “passport” is available through July 21. The passport allows entrance to all three shows. On July 22, the passport with be raised to $40.

Parking at the Gage County Fair is free Tuesday, July 21. Starting Wednesday, July 22, a $4 parking pass can be purchased to be used throughout the remainder of the fair.

According to Lisa Wiegand, this year’s acts mark the 63, 64 and 65 performers who have played the fair since 1988.

“I think this year’s lineup is going to be well recepted,” Wiegand said, “When [Newfield, Owen, and Ingraham] come in, their hits should really trigger in at the right time for the county fair.”

Wiegand said that demographics have shown that the county fair concert goers prefer country acts.

“It’s true that this fair is more geared towards country artists,” she said. “We’ve done several things in the past with rock and roll and comedy groups, but the demographics favor country music so that’s what we did again this year.”

Wiegand said that entertainment during the Gage County Fair is paid for exclusively by previous years’ ticket sales.

“We don’t spend any tax dollars for grandstand entertainment,” Wiegand said, “so we have to sell enough tickets to cover the budget.”

The three day event is expected to cost around $70,000. Even with the high price of booking talent, Wiegand said they wanted to be conscious of their customer’s budgets and still allow them to attend the concerts this year.

“We were really cautious about allowing people to spend their money efficiently and we didn’t not increase our ticket prices, in fact we dropped them,” Wiegand said.

The Gage County Fair works with Romeo Entertainment, a talent booking agency out of Omaha. According to Wiegand, two members of Romeo Entertainment have close ties within the country music industry, which has been instrumental in securing big acts for 21 years.

“Fran Romeo is the vice president of the Country Music Association and her brother is the president of the American Country Music Association, so they have a real insight to who’s coming and what’s popular,” Wiegand said.

The Gage County Fair has hosted entertainers with names like Sawyer Brown, John Michael Montgomery and Clay Walker, as well as recent stars Little Big Town and Dierks Bentley.

Last year, Wiegand said, rising country star Eric Church had the first rainout in 21 years, but stayed at the fair during his scheduled performance time to sign autographs and meet fans.

The success of entertainment at the fair is due to the number of younger fans that attend the concerts, Wiegand said.

“College kids with [Southeast Community College] and the University [of Nebraska] listen to radion stations and they don’t mind spending money,” she said. “They can’t believe our tickets are that cheap because they are used to going to Omaha to the Qwest and seeing Kenny Chesney in concert for $130-$140 a ticket.”

The goal of providing entertainment is for the improvement of the fair, Wiegand said.

“Bringing his entertainment to the Gage County Fair helps promote the fair and helps us promote agriculture,” she said. “Obviously our goal is to bring more people to the fairgrounds to give them a taste at how hard our community works to promote agriculture and, more importantly, showcase agriculture.”