Redmond is once again on the music map, preparing to host tens of thousands of fans for a weekend of tunes, dancing, cocktails and sunshine.

From July 19-21, the second-ever FairWell Festival will return to the Deschutes County Fair & Expo Center. Nearly 50,000 people are expected to attend the weekend-long concerts, which will feature performances from a wide variety of country and rock artists including Billy Strings, Jason Isbell, CAAMP and Kacey Musgraves.

City officials, as well as festival organizers C3 Presents, hope to have ironed out some of the problem areas that cropped up around last year’s first iteration of FairWell. At the concert’s inaugural 2023 edition, full parking lots and heavy traffic leaving the festival clogged up city roads and Highway 97 for hours. Fully-booked hotels and lack of sleeping options also caused problems for visitors.

This year, “significant changes” were made to make for a better experience, said Deschutes County Fair Director Geoff Hinds.

“It was a learning year and we had a learning curve moving forward,” Hinds said.

Attendance is estimated to be roughly the same as last year, but C3 Presents anticipates there will not be a sudden spike in one-day visitors like last year. They expect crowd numbers to be evenly dispersed across the three-day festival.

To accommodate the large crowd, Hinds said there is 38-page traffic plan, with better defined no-parking zones and planned, short-term road closures to help get visitors in and out the crowds more easily. Additional entrances and exits have been added this year, as has additional staff to enforce parking rules and keep cars moving. Revelers can park at the fairgrounds for $10.

Additionally, people will be able to park at Redmond and Ridgeview high schools and take a shuttle to the festival. Shuttle tickets can be bought for $5 at fairwellfestival.com.

Organizers also added 1,000 camping spots this year, and those quickly sold out. You can still purchase a $125 car camping pass, or for $1,600 park your RV on site and connect to electric and water.

Hinds hopes that with a traffic plan, shuttles and on-location camping, the amount of traffic will be less congested than last year.

The Redmond Airport also urged travelers this weekend to allow more time when driving to the terminal. SW Airport Way will be closed from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. Friday through Sunday between 21st Street and Fourth Street to mitigate increased traffic and congestion fromt he festival. Travelers and visitors are advised to use SW Veterans Way to access the airport from the north.

Business community readies

Most Redmond hotels are sold out of rooms. At SCP Redmond Hotel, they’ve been sold out for two weeks or so, with all 49 of their rooms reserved. As of Wednesday, the Comfort Suites Redmond Airport had two rooms left on Friday and Saturday night, selling for $539 and $709 per night. Most rooms have been reserved for more than a couple weeks, according to the hotel.

The Lodge at Eagle Crest has been fully booked for about two months. Two townhouse condos are available for the weekend, however, for around $804. Their system automatically raises prices if the number of rooms available decreases.

Crowd safety

Medical and security professionals will be on-site throughout the weekend, with help from the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office and Redmond Police.

C3 Presents, a subsidiary of LiveNation, has significant experience putting on large festivals. They’ve organized Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza and many more.

Due to the popularity of the event, its economic impact on Redmond will be significant. Last year’s festival brought in about $119 million, according to Hinds.

“It created the support of a thousand full-time job equivalents,” he said.

Around $43.1 million was from direct labor impact to Redmond, $27.1 million was food and beverage spending at local restaurants and $11.4 million went to local hotels.

For the 2024 version, one-day general admission tickets start at $160. Three-day passes are $285 with a student discounted ticket at $225.

If you go to the event, expect to see some new updates, including more shade. Crews have built a barn area with multiple bars, relaxed seating, line dancing, games and more. Another shaded area includes the Three Sister Saloon, with a dance floor and fair games. The Saturday temperature is expected to top out at 100 degrees.