A concert, originally planned for the Spring Fork Farm in Irwin, has been moved. Officials from Luke Bryan’s Farm Tour 2018 have announced the concert, planned for Sept. 27, will not be at the farm. A new location has not been announced. Above is a screenshot of the tour website, which initially had the Irwin farm listed but was changed Thursday afternoon.
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A concert featuring a country music megastar playing at an Irwin area farm is being called off.
Last week, it was announced Luke Bryan would open his Farm Tour 2018 on Sept. 27 at Spring Fork Farms in Irwin. As of Wednesday morning, the engagement was still planned. Thursday afternoon however, the Luke Bryan website changed. The site said the concert’s location was TBD (to be determined) in the Columbus, OH area.
A farm spokesman said the decision was based on farm operations.
“We had a hail storm and we had to replant that bean field,” the spokesman said. “It had to be replanted and there is no way we could get it off before their concert.”
He added, “we just couldn’t destroy that field of crops.”
The farm, which totals about 1,400 total acres, had planned to offer a 12-acre concert pad and 88 acres of parking in a bean field. As of Wednesday, farm officials said they were making plans and modifications to the farm to accommodate the 20,000 expected concertgoers and 7,000 vehicles.
The farm spokesman said he contacted tour officials about the crop loss.
“They just decided to go to a different location,” he said.
The spokesman said Bryan’s Farm Tour will remain in the area, saying it could be at a neighboring farm. He also said the tour will still give money to create a scholarship to be granted to farm-family students in the area.
“The concert is not leaving the area, it is just not going to be on that field,” the spokesman said.
He said tour officials plan to have an alternate site announced by mid June.
“I can’t believe we’ve been doing this 10 years,” Bryan said in a release. “Our goal was to bring big-city production concerts into these small towns across the U.S. giving those communities the opportunity to attend shows that would never come their way.”
According to the Luke Bryan Farm Tour website, advance tickets for the Columbus area concert will be $51 with, “More info on tickets coming soon.”
Concert tickets are set to go on sale to the public Monday for the other five sites.
While the Luke Bryan concert is in flux, several other major concerts planned for this summer are still moving forward. Earlier this spring, the All Ohio Balloon Fest announced LoCash will perform Friday, Aug. 10. LoCash will begin playing at 8 p.m. Country acts Michael Christopher and Jacked Up will open for LoCash.
The All Ohio Balloon Fest will also have a major announcement June 15. Because of contractual restrictions, the festival cannot announce the group name until that date. Festival organizers have signed a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame act to perform Thursday, Aug. 9., at the festival’s Impact 60 night. Those interested in the concert can go online to the festival website at www.allohioballonfest.com or eventbrite.com.
Additionally, Blu Kuda and Bon Journey will perform Saturday, Aug. 11, at the festival.