One of the biggest rising stars in country music is coming to Kelowna.
After music festival Denim on the Diamond was postponed because of the Grouse Complex of wildfires in the Central Okanagan, not all the scheduled artists could make the new dates, set for Friday, Oct. 6 and Saturday, Oct. 7. Included in that was country star Nate Smith, who wasn’t able to reschedule.
But when one door closes, another one opens and taking Smith’s spot is upcoming country star ERNEST.
The stars aligned perfectly for Denim on the Diamond Mitch Carefoot and Kurt Jory to secure ERNEST for the festival as he’s currently the opening act on Morgan Wallen’s tour, which is in Vancouver a couple of days before Denim starts.
“Once we found out Denim was going to be postponed, we worked around the clock to secure an artist line-up fans will love, organized dates and a suitable venue with the City, and basically started from the ground up to reshape this year’s event,” said Carefoot. “We are so thrilled to have ERNEST join this year’s line-up, he’s one of the fastest rising stars. We couldn’t be more excited to showcase Ernest on our stage.”
The ‘Flower Shops’ singer has written songs for Wallen as well as fellow country stars Sam Hunt, Kane Brown, Chris Lane, Florida Georiga Line, Jelly Roll, and Langley’s Dallas Smith.
Country star Mackenzie Porter was able to reschedule and will perform before ERNEST on Friday night, which has been deemed as ‘country night’. Bryce Vine was also able to reschedule and is the Saturday night headliner.
After being forced to postpone and being in limbo because of the wildfires, Jory and Carefoot didn’t know what Denim on the Diamond was going to look like but were very pleased to reschedule the event.
“Okanagan residents have suffered immeasurable blows from the recent wildfires that claimed hundreds of houses and displaced thousands (myself included) while business owners were forced to turn away visitors during peak tourism season,” said Jory. “Needless to say, we have all overcome different challenges recently but the silver lining has been witnessing firsthand how the community has come together. We are doing our part to attract people back to our amazing city and give locals a much-needed weekend of fun.”
Carefoot and Jory are also providing complementary passes to firefighters, first responders, and those who lost their homes in the wildfires as well as raising money for Central Okanagan Wildfire Relief organizations.
Denim is also now off the diamond as the rescheduled event is taking place at City Park in Downtown Kelowna.
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@cunninghamjordy
jordy.cunningham@kelownacapnews.com
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