SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento is known by many names like “The City of Trees” and “The Farm to Fork Capital,” but over the next couple of weekends, it'll be the City of Festivals.
Aftershock is rocking out at Discovery Park for the next four days, and next weekend, an inaugural festival will take stage, adding a boost to the local economy.
Aftershock is back for its 10th year, and it’s bigger than ever with four stages and more than a hundred bands from around the world performing over four days. Headliners include Slipknot, My Chemical Romance and Rob Zombie. The largest rock and heavy metal festival in the western United States is attracting fans near and far.
“I drove down from Vancouver, Washington because Evanescence and me at the rail has got to happen today!” said Kimberlee Ghent.
Since day one, Ghent has never missed an Aftershock Festival in its 10 years. She says it’s a family reunion with her heavy metal brothers and sisters.
“Everybody, being at one with just the music is the best experience you can ever have,” Ghent said. “Sacramento Discovery Park is the home of Aftershock. It just is.”
Ghent is among more than half of the 160,000 festival goers who aren’t from Sacramento but who traveled a long way for the experience.
“Oh dude, I know when we come, we pay a pretty penny for our motel room and the food’s not cheap and neither is the gas. Gas is not cheap right now, but we would not miss it,” she said.
The economic impact for the festival is roughly $30 million dollars, according to Visit Sacramento.
Mayor Darrell Steinberg says Sacramento is becoming known as the city of festivals.
Next weekend, at the same park and on the same stages, it’s round two with the Golden Sky Country Music Festival.
“I think the next two weekends are really going to show the people of Sacramento and people coming from all over the world that this is a great destination. I mean building our creative economy is huge part of our economic future,” Steinberg said.
Visit Sacramento’s Mike Testa said Sacramento’s economy is bouncing back from the pandemic faster than other big cities thanks to its growing festival scene.
“The goal is to grow Golden Sky to the level of Aftershock. I’d love to tell you in a couple of years that Sacramento hosts the largest country festival in the nation,” Testa said.
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