21st ROMP draws 24,500-plus fans

The 21st annual ROMP Festival continued to produce large attendance figures in the event’s two-decade history.

Chris Joslin, executive director of the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum, which puts on the festival at Yellow Creek Park off Kentucky 144, said the four-day event between June 26-29 drew more than 24,500 people — a slight increase from the nearly 24,000 that attended the 2023 event.

According to a press release from the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum, attendees came from 42 states and nine other countries including Afghanistan, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, South Korea and Sweden.

The 2024 event included headliners such as country musician Dierks Bentley — making his ROMP debut — Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives, The Travelin’ McCourys, Keller Williams and Leftover Salmon.

Other artists featured on the lineup included the festival’s “artist in residence” Jerry Douglas, the Earls of Leicester, Peter Rowan, Sierra Hull, The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys and the Sam Grisman Project among other acts.

“We knew that ROMP 2024 had great potential because of the lineup,” Joslin said, “and because of (being) post-Covid, I think people’s travel patterns, buying patterns and how they’re spending their time is beginning to settle as well.

“We felt that all the ingredients were there for a very successful event. … We’re so pleased.”

The year 2018 still stands as the festival’s record year which saw more than 27,000 people.

Featured acts on that lineup included Alison Krauss and Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder.

The 2020 festival was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, while the 2021 event was moved from June to September due to safety concerns regarding the virus. The latter drew in around 12,000 — the smallest number in over a decade — before 2022’s attendance rebounded slightly with 18,500.

Besides the “diversity” of the performers, Joslin felt there were other features that brought in the crowd, such as the “Jerry Garcia: A Bluegrass Journey” exhibition that opened in March at the Hall of Fame detailing the Grateful Dead founding member’s connections to bluegrass music.

“I do feel like this year’s ROMP wasn’t any one thing but it was a cumulative … of a lot of things,” Joslin said.

“I do feel like the Jerry Garcia exhibit (was) able to reach and expand our audience … but we were also able to program musically around that; and that was intentional with ROMP this year with artists like Peter Rowan and Sam Grisman and for artists who have (been) definitely influenced by (Garcia) like The Travelin’ McCourys doing ‘The Grateful Ball’ set, Keller Williams (and) the jamgrass artists like Leftover Salmon.”

Though the festival has gone on for over 20 years, Joslin still meets first-time visitors — and this year was no exception.

“Anecdotally, I talked to a lot of people and this was their first year at ROMP Festival and there wasn’t really wasn’t a common theme,” he said. “... Most folks that fell into that category (said) they’ve been tracking ROMP for awhile; they heard a lot about ROMP; they were drawn to the lineup; they wanted to visit the Hall of Fame anyway and this was their excuse.

“(It) was very encouraging to hear that because that’s the lifeblood and the future health of an event like this ….”

The 22nd ROMP Festival is scheduled to return to Yellow Creek Park from June 25-28.

Though Joslin said Wednesday that he doesn’t have “anything specific to report on yet” regarding the 2025 event, he hinted potential plans are in the works.

“There are some really good ideas that are bubbling to the surface that we’re beginning to move on,” he said.