The Christian music festival Faith Jam changing venues to the White County Fairgrounds for this September’s event.
Founder Daniel Burgess said they have grown too big for the Sparta Drive-In with attendance numbers going from two hundred people to two thousand in the past two years. Burgess said they went to the fairgrounds because it is the biggest venue in the county.
“It’s going to be more convenient for parking,” Burgess said. “Of course, we’ve got the ball field out front, the school out back. And then we’ll just be able to be more organized with the gates, people coming in, we can keep a better head count coming in. We’re going to have a covered pavilion area for the vendors and addiction treatment.”
Burgess said this will be the first year the event has an entry fee to account for its new size and an increase in the number of artists and speakers performing. He said they have yet to have any issues with the fairground, but each year of Faith Jam is a new learning experience.
“Hopefully we can just accommodate more booths, more addiction treatment, and more people to come in and get saved and get with Jesus,” Burgess said.
Burgess said he has been working closely with the county fair board to coordinate the event.
“It was a lot easier and they were a lot, very understanding and just asking questions about how to help make it grow,” Burgess said. “They definitely went above and beyond to help us.”
Burgess said the fairgrounds will serve as the venue for the event for as long as it can fit there.
“Eventually we want to try to go into a multi-day event,” Burgess said. “Like a Bonnaroo, but a Christian Bonnaroo, and have different genres of music, Christian music.”