By: Ryan Duey
Photos Courtesy of Rock the Plains
A few K-State alumni have banded together to bring a music festival experience back to Tuttle Creek State Park in Manhattan. Rock the Plains, a two-day Texas and Red Dirt County Music Festival, is coming to Manhattan Friday, August 8th, and Saturday, August 9th.
Brandyn Steen, Co-founder and Executive Producer, said he and his friends wanted to bring something back to Manhattan to help fill the void after the Country Stampede left town.
“I went to Graduate School at K-State, and my roommate at KSU and another buddy of mine from Graduate School are actually the two Co-founders of the festival with me.”
“After Grad School, I ended up moving to Nashville, and I got into the music industry. I have a couple of other events that I do, along with managing some country artists and all that stuff.”
“We talked about the idea of bringing something back to Manhattan. So, I took the leap of faith, and we launched Rock the Plains, and we’re very excited.”
The two-day festival will include various artists, including: Logan Mize, Aaron Watson, The Randy Rogers Band, Casey Donahew, Pat Green, and many more. Sodexo at Kansas State will be offering a wide variety of food and drinks for concert goers throughout the Park.
Steen said they have capped ticket sales at 10,000 people for this inaugural event. Steen spoke about this first year.
“For year one, we are tapping ticket sales at 10,000 people. That’s a good number for us to give a great concert and not worry about bad crowd control or anything like that.”
“The overall goal is to have a very successful year one and lead this into an annual event for the community.”
Steen said that camping and general admission tickets are going fast, and he anticipates a sellout soon. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit the Rock the Plains website.
