Pollstar (08/12/19) Pittman, Sarah

Tailgate Fest co-founder Melissa Carbone discusses the event's progress, which this year will expand to two days and be hosted at Leal Ranch in Eastvale, California. She notes the festival's ticket sales rose 500% this year, while plans are underway for multiple Tailgate Fest venues. Carbone describes tailgating as "this insanely passionate culture where people set up these little worlds of perfection around their vehicles." She adds that Tailgate Fest serves two distinct audiences — country music fans and the tailgating population — with focus on "creating a vantage point of the stage from the tailgate, where they could actually still see the stage, hear the music." Carbone says the lineup is supposed to reflect an "American small town vibe," which means having best-selling country artists of the year perform is not the only priority. Other perks she cites for this year's event include Boots & Bikinis, a hotel-quality pool party for all VIP ticket holders. "We're going to have a giant clam bake, and a giant grill that's just going to be this massive cattle line of ribs and wings and dogs and veggie burgers," Carbone boasts.

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