Alex Pires' live entertainment company chose the spot behind door number two - the Delaware State Fairgrounds in Harrington - to inaugurate a three-day country music festival in August 2015.
The Dewey Beach businessman's company, Highway One, is set to announce details of the Aug. 14-16 festival Thursday, along with State Fair officials and Live Nation, a music promoter that handles concert promotion for acts like One Direction, Fleetwood Mac and a slew of country artists: Florida Georgia Line, Dierks Bentley, Miranda Lambert, Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley and more.
A Virginia music promoter, Starr Hill Presents, also is involved in the festival, according to a media advisory Highway One issued Tuesday morning.
Pires first pitched the idea of a new, multi-day country festival to Sussex County officials, cajoling them to allow a 500-acre parcel of a Harbeson farm he negotiated with to serve as the site.
But after nearby residents raised noise and traffic complaints, and transportation planners said there wouldn't be enough time to plan for the event, Pires withdrew the land-use application.
Alex Pires (Photo: JASON MINTO/Special to The News)
All along, Pires, who owns several bars, restaurants and other businesses in Dewey Beach and Rehoboth Beach, along with the Jimmy's Grille restaurant in Bridgeville, said the State Fairgrounds was his second choice of venue.
'If people can come to Firefly, which is rock music, and make Delaware famous for that event, they can certainly come for a country music festival,' Pires said in July. 'I'm going to do it, one way or the other.'
There is some breathing room between Firefly, the rapidly growing music festival returning to Dover on June 18-21 next summer, and the Pires festival on Aug. 14-16. And there's a two-week interval between the end of the 2015 State Fair itself, on Aug. 1, and the start of the country festival.
Poll: Would you attend a country music festival?
In August, a Delaware State Fair board member said the fair's management board was considering a detailed proposal from Pires for a festival.
Contact James Fisher at (302) 983-6772, on Twitter @JamesFisherTNJ or jfisher@delawareonline.com.
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Entities 0 Name: Pires Count: 6 1 Name: Delaware Count: 2 2 Name: Alex Pires Count: 2 3 Name: Dewey Beach Count: 2 4 Name: Jimmy 's Grille Count: 1 5 Name: Harbeson Count: 1 6 Name: Highway One Count: 1 7 Name: Delaware State Fair Count: 1 8 Name: Virginia Count: 1 9 Name: James Fisher Count: 1 10 Name: Miranda Lambert Count: 1 11 Name: Bridgeville Count: 1 12 Name: Fleetwood Mac Count: 1 13 Name: Sussex County Count: 1 14 Name: State Fair Count: 1 15 Name: Florida Georgia Line Count: 1 16 Name: Harrington Count: 1 17 Name: Dierks Bentley Count: 1 18 Name: Dover Count: 1 19 Name: Kenny Chesney Count: 1 20 Name: Brad Paisley Count: 1 21 Name: Rehoboth Beach Count: 1 22 Name: Starr Hill Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/music/280804772.html Title: Eau Claire rocker Justin Vernon to host hometown music fest Description: With two country fests and a big classic-rock bash already held in the area, residents of Eau Claire, Wis., will see a more cutting-edge music festival come to town next summer, organized by someone who knows the place well: Grammy-winning hometown star Justin Vernon, of Bon Iver.
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