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Nov 16, 2023

WE Fest is turning 40 years old this summer

DETROIT LAKES — The iconic WE Fest country music festival, scheduled for Aug.

DETROIT LAKES — The iconic WE Fest country music festival, scheduled for Aug. 3-5 at Detroit Lakes' Soo Pass Ranch, is turning 40 years old this summer — and the staff is gearing up to celebrate in style.

"Technically, it's 41 years, but we didn't have a show in 2020," says WE Fest General Manager Mark Bjerke. "So this is our 40th-anniversary show ... and we're going to have a 'birthday bash' on Wednesday, Aug. 2."

Headliners for the festival were announced back in September and will include Kane Brown, Brad Paisley and Morgan Wallen.

Wallen, who is making his WE Fest debut, is one of country music's hottest new stars. "In true WE Fest tradition, we managed to book somebody right before they got really big," Bjerke said.

Paisley and Brown, meanwhile, have both played the festival before (Paisley, a few times, most recently in 2014, and Brown in 2017), and have strong fan bases of their own — as do the other artists in the lineup this year.

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The full slate of 2023 WE Fest performers, which was announced in November, includes the Brothers Osborne, Gabby Barrett, Chase Rice, Travis Tritt, Blackberry Smoke, Ernest, Bailey Zimmerman, Neal McCoy, Jo Dee Messina, Ashland Craft, Ben Burgess and Ashley Cooke. Cowboy Troy will return as Main Stage host for a second straight year. There will be additional entertainment and live music performances at both the Soo Pass Ranch Saloon and Barn Stage throughout the festival's run as well.

With so many popular acts on the schedule this year, it's no big surprise that all of the VIP, grandstand and reserved seating (including the reserved lawn seats) are already sold out, as are the pit passes and several campgrounds.

There are still three-day general admission tickets and camping packages available, however — including a brand-new "glamping" village in the Lake Sallie Campground, which was just announced in May. Though passes for this new WE Fest experience are in limited supply, "glampers" will have easy access to the festival's West Gate entrance, as well as other amenities including dedicated porta-potties, adjacent parking, a shaded lounge tent, supply store and a 24/7 camp coordinator. More information is available on the festival's website, wefest.com, which is also where you can purchase tickets. Phone lines are also open every Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 1-833-2WE-FEST.

Bjerke said they have brought the ticket fulfillment operation back "in-house" this year, in the hope of avoiding some of the difficulties that some WE Fest attendees experienced in the days leading up to last year's festival. "Tickets will be going out much earlier this year — in fact, some have already gone out."

They have also addressed the Wi-Fi reception difficulties that last year's attendees experienced. "We're installing a whole new Wi-Fi system, that we will own," Bjerke said. "It's getting installed at the end of May — and it will have up to 10G capacity."

Bjerke added that the ticketing and Wi-Fi issues were identified as the biggest problems with last year's festival, and "we really believe we've addressed those — we put forth a real extra effort (to do so)."

The RFID wristbands and "cashless" purchasing system, which made their debut at last year's festival, will be back again in 2023 — and attendees will have even more food and merchandise options to choose from.

"We'll have more food and merch vendors than in the past — and there will be 24-hour food vendors in both the East Village and campgrounds," Bjerke said, adding that the East Village will be expanding "quite a bit."

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The Country Club, which also debuted last summer as an add-on experience for general admission ticket holders, is being expanded this year as well, he added. A patio area has been added, and other amenities included with membership include even more exclusive live music performances and surprise guests, discounted drinks (along with a free WE Fest mug), and light snacks.

"We're also doing a little reconfiguration in some of our bars, for faster service," Bjerke said.

Most of the construction this year, however, is taking place in the festival's backstage area, where a new, two-story "Prancing Pony" is being built to provide hospitality services for WE Fest artists and support staff, stage crews, sponsors and other special guests.

"The main floor is for artists and backstage crew ... the upper deck is for sponsors and other paid members," Bjerke said.

Next year's backstage project will be to construct a whole new building dedicated to artist dressing rooms and showers; this year, those amenities will be provided through portable facilities, he added.

Besides all of these projects, "we'll be jazzing up the place, getting it all spruced up (for the festival)," Bjerke said, adding that siding, windows and even some roofing on various buildings will be replaced or revamped, and some facilities will be getting a fresh coat of paint as well.

What: WE Fest 2023Where: Soo Pass Ranch, Detroit LakesWhen: Thursday, Aug. 3, through Saturday, Aug. 5; 40th-anniversary "birthday bash" set for Wednesday, Aug. 2.How: Tickets and camping packages can be purchased online at wefest.com; phone lines are also open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Monday through Thursday at 1-833-2WE-FEST.

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