PANAMA CITY BEACH — A small city is under construction at Frank Brown Park in Panama City Beach.
Crews arrived Sunday to begin setup for the Pepsi Gulf Coast Jam, a three-day country music festival kicking off today, with artists slated to perform at the park’s festival grounds during the evening and the M.B. Miller County Pier during the day.
“I’ve been teasing everybody on Facebook that we’re building a city,” said festival producer Rendy Lovelady. “It’s the Gulf Coast Jam City.”
As crews set up the 167-foot stage at Frank Brown Park on Wednesday, Lovelady described the second annual event as bigger and better than last year, with “substantially bigger” acts, a bigger stage, more than 90 vendors and a holiday weekend to help drive attendance.
“We’ve got Carrie Underwood Friday night, Dierks Bentley Saturday night and we have the man himself, Mr. Blake Shelton, on Sunday, along with over 20 different acts,” Lovelady said. “This year we have three true headliners. It’s a bigger stage because we have bigger talent.”
Joining the festival’s three headliners will be Randy Houser, Big & Rich, Cassadee Pope, Lonestar, John Michael Montgomery, Casey James, Neal McCoy, Trick Pony, Love and Theft, Jon Pardi, Andrew Salgado, Laura Bell Bundy, Kirstie Lovelady and Blackjack Billy.
Crews also began assembling a smaller stage on the sandy beach at the M.B. Miller County Pier on Thursday, where acts will perform from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. each day of the festival. The beach performances, along with a
“Conservation Village” by festival sponsor Guy Harvey, will be free and open to the public.
To help ease traffic gridlock this year, organizers will be providing more shuttles to transport festival-goers between their condominiums and the stage sites, with stops also at popular destinations like Pier Park. Lovelady suggested downloading the Gulf Coast Jam mobile app for shuttle maps, festival maps and lineup information.
About 15,000 tickets have been purchased for the event so far, but tickets will be available at the gate through the weekend. Organizers set a goal to sell 20,000 tickets this year.
“Tickets are going to be available at the gate, so don’t think it’s too late to get tickets,” Lovelady said. “We can get you tickets.”
Want To Go?
- What: Pepsi Gulf Coast Jam
- When: Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. at the M.B. Miller County Pier; gates open at 3 p.m. at Frank Brown Park
- Where: Panama City Beach
- Cost: Free for pier acts, $159 for Frank Brown Park three-day pass, $99 for military
- Details: www.GulfCoastJam.com
