“ It ’ s expanding the genre and audience who may look at Sacramento a little differently ,” Boswell says . “ For the local economy , we ’ re able to get more of the community involved — more food vendors , more arts and crafts vendors — and induce opportunities for revenue for small and medium-sized businesses .”
Visit Sacramento ’ s Testa says visitors from outside the region are able to see the city in a different light , noting state capitals are often seen as “ boring government towns .”
“ Look at capitals like Austin or Nashville and you don ’ t think of them as a state capital because they ’ ve created an identity outside of that government reality ,” Testa says .
Also returning for the first time since 2019 is the popular Friday night concert series at Cesar Chavez Plaza in downtown Sacramento , which runs through July 29 . Michael Ault , executive director of the Downtown Sacramento Partnership , says the concert series for 2022 will bring in several nationally known performers including Nappy Roots , Bob Moses and Cannons , as well as local favorites such as Arden Park Roots and Zach Waters Band .
“ This concert series alone brings over 75,000 visitors downtown , and we can ’ t wait to welcome everyone back to our district ,” Ault says .
Nothing in Sacramento , however , compares to the huge impact of the annual October rock and heavy metal showcase Aftershock , which attracts many of the biggest names in the genre including Kiss , Judas Priest and Slipknot . Aftershock has sold out for five consecutive years , drawing upwards of 145,000 people to Discovery Park for the run of the festival . Aftershock started in 2012 as a one-day event , then grew to two days the next year and three days in 2019 . After canceling in 2020 due to COVID-19 , Aftershock expanded to four days last October , giving a much-needed economic jolt to the region when not much else was happening because of the pandemic .
“ I suppose you can say it was a silver lining in the pandemic last year ,” Testa says .
Aftershock has been so successful , it prompted promoter Danny Wimmer Presents to produce its two-day country music festival , GoldenSky , the following weekend at Discovery Park , Oct . 15-16 , featuring top stars such as Tim Mc- Graw , Sam Hunt , Brothers Osborne and Carly Pearce . When the news was first announced , Testa says , one of the first things he did was to reach out to local businesses so they could prepare for the expected demand . Close to 200,000 fans are anticipated in Sacramento from early to mid-October for the two concert weekends .
GoldenSky “ gives people a lot of really fun reasons to visit our city and spend money into our economy ,” Testa says .
Chamie McCurry , chief marketing officer for Los Angeles-based Danny Wimmer Presents , says the country music festival had been in the planning
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