One of this year’s Country Music Television Awards hosts – Kelsea Ballerini – is set to take the stage for St. George’s annual Fourth of July concert.
With three grammy nominations, Ballerini is the first woman country artist to perform at the Fourth of July concert.
Megan Church, director of university events and promotions in the University Marketing and Communication office at Utah Tech, said, “I think that this year you’ll see maybe a few more people who aren’t country fans become [fans] because [Ballerini] is very interesting to others who maybe don’t typically listen to country.”
Ben Lindquist, general manager of Canyon Media and St. George News, introduced Ballerini as this year’s performer by first saying she has multiple awards and nominations from the CMAs, CMTs and ACMs. She has been selling out stadiums around the country.
Canyon Media along with the City of St. George and Utah Tech are teaming up to host this event.
Lindquist said keeping the concert affordable is one of the most important aspects. As such, tickets for this concert will be under $50. This price doesn’t have any hidden fees and is the lowest ticket price for essentially any of Ballerini’s concerts.
Seats will be divided between reserved and general admission tickets because of the high number of people attending the concert – which is around 15,000 people. While this year does not include special pricing for students, Lindquist said it will be considered for next year.
Church said all university parking lots will be open during the event to accommodate for the large number of attendants. Street parking will also be available for the concert.
Different from last year’s event when only one side of the stadium was open for entrance, this year the stadium entrances will be open on the East and West sides.
The new addition of the Westside Grandstands at Greater Zion Stadium will provide more shading than was present last year. The number of bathrooms will also be increased.
Lindquist said the Fourth of July concert performances have the purpose of bringing entertainment to southern Utah. Southern Utah is attempting to compete with larger markets such as Stadium of Fire in Northern Utah which was used as a model for St. George’s Fourth of July show.
Dennis Leavitt, president of United We Pledge – a nonprofit organization whose purpose is to celebrate shared responsibility and allegiance to American values such as freedom – said the pre-show to the concert, called Tribute to America, features youth choirs and the unveiling of the largest American flag that has ever been flown in the United States.
Leavitt said: “We all love this city. It’s such a wonderful city in such a beautiful county, and there’s nothing more Americana than the red rocks of southern Utah and all the patriotism that exists here in the hearts of people.”
Lindquist said tickets go on sale April 21 at 10 a.m. and will be available to buy through Kony Country 99.9.
Presale tickets will be available April 20 at 10 a.m. with the code KONY2023. Sign up for presale tickets are on the Kony Country website.
