Major country music festival planned in Delaware

Delaware State Fair officials will announce plans for a new music festival coming to Kent County next summer.

The 2015 Country Music Festival is scheduled for Aug. 14-16, 2015. More details about the festival will be announced during a press conference Thursday.

The Delaware State Fair is partnering with concert promoters Live Nation and Starr Hill Presents as well as Highway One, an entertainment company owned by Delaware attorney and businessman Alex Pires.

Pires initially had plans to host the country music festival at a private Sussex County farm but withdrew his bid after facing criticism from area residents about the noise and traffic it would cause.

A summer of music in central Delaware 

The Delaware State Fairgrounds already plays host to a week’s worth of concerts during the fair every July. The line-up is usually heavy on country music acts with headlining performers like Lady Antebellum and Keith Urban playing on this year’s fair stage.

Kent County is also home to the Firefly Festival, a rock music festival hosted at the Woodlands, on the grounds of Dover International Speedway in June.

About 80,000 concert-goers attended the third annual Firefly Festival in Dover in June and the festival is only expected to grow in the coming years.

Firefly organizer Red Frog Events signed a deal earlier this year with music promotion firm Goldenvoice. Goldenvoice is responsible for the massively popular Coachella music festival in California.

Firefly has signed a ten-year deal to host the festival in Dover.