Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


A new Yellowstone-themed country music festival has been given the go-ahead in Genoa Township.

The Greater Brighton Area Chamber of Commerce will be hosting the Yellowstone Country Music Festival on July 22nd on the grounds of Mt. Brighton off Bauer Road, which is operated by Vail Properties and located in Genoa Township. The festival is scheduled to run from 2 to 10pm.

The Genoa Township Board met Monday night and granted a request for a certificate of license to conduct an outdoor assembly for the new festival. Due to the ongoing Streetscape construction project in downtown Brighton, the Chamber had to work out new venues for some events this year.

With the board approval, the Chamber can now start advertising and promoting the event and ticket sales can now commence. Being an inaugural event based on the popular TV show, Chamber organizers noted they’re not sure what to expect but are planning for a maximum of 5,000 attendees.

There was said to be a lot of work involved on the part of the Chamber and township, as the outdoor assembly ordinance is very outdated. Treasurer Robin Hunt commented that she thinks the event will be a very big draw and noted a lot of support.

Accommodations are being made for extra parking and shuttles. The Chamber is working with the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office, the Brighton Area Fire Authority, Livingston County EMS and others on the different security, safety, and planning aspects for the event.

Chamber Director of Events Linda Carey told WHMI they normally host the Brighton Art Festival but it’s just not feasible with all of the construction so they decided to host something new. She said country music and Yellowstone both seem to be big hits these days so they decided to capitalize on that – adding she’s already had people calling from Alberta, Canada who heard about the festival and plan on attending.

Carey says the event will feature five country music bands that will be playing all day, food trucks, alcohol sales, a look-alike contest for the Yellowstone cast, and various family-friendly activities including a petting farm.

Separately, the Board approved another request from the Chamber to host the Brighton Smokin’ Jazz and Barbeque Blues Festival at Mt. Brighton on September 8th and 9th. That would run from 5 to 10pm and only 3,000 tickets for that event will be sold.

The Smokin’ Jazz festival will be moved back downtown next year while the festival and any future such events would be evaluated.

Carey noted the Holiday Glow should be able to proceed downtown but if electrical work isn’t completed for some reason, then that event would be moved over to the City’s municipal lot where the Farmers Market is held. The market opens back up starting this Saturday.

Additionally, the approval for both events was contingent on some conditions from planners being met prior. Further should any issues arise during the country music festival, those would need to be worked out with the township prior to the Smokin’ Jazz event.