CLINTON, Iowa – It’s almost time to listen to country music and party it up in this community.
The 2024 Tailgate N’ Tallboys country music festival will run today (Thursday) through Saturday, June 6-8, on the Clinton riverfront at 537 Ball Park Drive.
The music festival is expected to attract at least 30,000 visitors to Clinton. Last year’s festival had about a $6 million direct economic impact on Clinton. This year’s event could have an even bigger economic impact, organizers have said.
Matt Parbs, vice president of community economic development for Grow Clinton, provided these economic stats from the 2023 Tailgate N’ Tallboys – the first fest in Clinton:
- The festival saw visitors from more than 30 states come to Clinton.
- Hotel/motel tax revenue was up 80%.
- The music festival attracted more than 44,000 visitors to Clinton’s riverfront, with the average visitor staying two days.
- During this three-day period, the concert attracted a higher percentage of visitors between the ages of 25-44 than the state as a whole would forecast for the event.
- The event generated a $6.1 million impact to the local economy.
“With increased sales this year, we know this impact is going to deepen. Grow Clinton runs a video during the concert that highlights Clinton as a place to visit and live,” Mr. Parbs in an email to the QCBJ. “With the young audience, we are building awareness of Clinton’s schools, jobs, and quality of life to convert these concert-goers into future tourists and hopefully, future residents.”
The gates to the festival will open at 2 p.m each day. The first main music acts will begin at about 4 p.m. each day on the main stage, and the headliner music act is scheduled to start at 10 p.m. (Go here for ticket information. Go here to see a map of parking and camping areas.)
“The City of Clinton is excited to have year two of Tailgate N’ Tallboys. After a great first year, we made some changes to make year two even better,” Clinton Mayor Scott Maddasion told the QCBJ on Thursday, June 6, in an email.
The music lineup for the next three days includes:
- Thursday, June 6: Jelly Roll will be the headliner. Other acts on the night will include Nate Smith, Austin Snell and Redferrin. DJ Cliffy D will be featured on all three nights of the festival.
- Friday, June 7: Bailey Zimmerman will be the headliner. Other acts on the night will include Josh Ross, Alexandra Kay and Lakeview
- Saturday, June 8: Shinedown will be the headliner. Other acts on the night will include The Cadillac Three, Them Dirty Roses and Myron Elkins.
This year’s music fest is expected to attract between 10,000 to 15,000 visitors per day, according to estimates provided by the City of Clinton.
City and business officials have been making plans for the three-day festival for months. Many of those plans were outlined during an April 4 meeting at the Grow Clinton office.
“This festival is the real deal. This is not a rinky-dink production. … This has put us on the map,” Mr. Maddasion said during that meeting, adding that Clinton got press coverage from as far away as London, England, during the first Tailgate N’ Tallboys.
During that April planning meeting, the mayor confirmed that last year’s inaugural Tailgate music fest in Clinton lost about $400,000. But he said many of the changes that will happen at this summer’s fest will cut expenses, bring in more concert-goers and drive up more revenues.
He added that the first year of the festival was an “investment” that will pay off.
The concert promoter, USA Concerts, which has a three-year contract with Clinton for the festival, is not concerned about the financial losses during the opening year. USA Concerts knows it is a process and financial improvements will be made, the mayor said.
“This (festival) has really brought the community together. … Let’s see if we can grow the heck out of it,” Josh Eggers, the city’s parks and recreation director, said at that April meeting to a crowd of more than 50 Clinton business owners and managers.
The three-day festival is presented by USA Concerts and the City of Clinton with Wild Rose Casino and Hotels as the title sponsor.
The Tailgate N’ Tallboys concert series continues June 13-16 in Bloomington, Illinois.
