New music festival comes to Eagle this weekend

Get ready to groove to the tunes at the Eagle River Jamboree, a new, two-day music festival taking place at the Eagle County Fairgrounds on Aug. 8-9. The inaugural event brings in award-winning national stars, regional acts and local favorites.

The Eagle River Jamboree marks the return of a large-scale outdoors and music festival to Eagle for the first time since 2023, rekindling the community’s vibrant live music scene through a celebration of mountain culture, local food and beverage, and the outdoor lifestyle embraced by locals and visitors alike. Inspired by legacy events like the Bonfire Block Party and Eagle Outside Fest, local organizers of the Eagle River Jamboree aim to establish long-term roots on the community event calendar.

“Eagle River Jamboree is more than just a music festival,” event organizer Zach Gilliam of Eagle said. “It’s about bringing people together, supporting artists and creating something meaningful for our community that can grow for years to come.”

The festival features a powerhouse lineup, headlined by the genre-bending, collaborative force of Ripe and the legendary high-energy pedal steel virtuoso Robert Randolph. Los Angeles-based Ripe brings their “love letter to complicated nostalgia” to the stage on Saturday night, promising an experience defined by intense, joyous, swelling energy as they swing for the fences. Combined with the unmistakable local-favorite sounds of Robert Randolph on Sunday, the weekend has landed as the valley’s most highly anticipated music and outdoors celebration of the summer.

“Our goal here was to diversify our lineup so that there’s something for everyone. So here we’re going to find jam, rock, blues, country, bluegrass, funk and also DJs, house music and dance music,” Gilliam said. “When I was thinking of a band for Saturday, I knew we needed high-energy dance, good vibes, and an interactive act, someone with great stage presence and Ripe really checks all those boxes”.

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Grammy Award winner Robert Randolph was also on Gilliam’s wish list.

“Robert Randolph is absolutely legendary, of course. He’s an incredible musician, very soulful, and I thought he’d be the perfect person to close out the event on Sunday,” Gilliam said.

Alongside the headliners, regional favorites Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country, The Band of Heathens, Jason Scott and the High Heat, Pickin’ on the Dead, The Runaway Grooms, Dragondeer, Danger Mountain, DJ’s and emerging artists round out the music lineup rolling from 3 -10:30 p.m. on Saturday and 1:30 – 8:30 p.m. on Sunday.

Unlike the Block Party, which was held on the streets of downtown Eagle, the event will be at the Eagle County Fairgrounds, utilizing that space for the different stages and viewing areas from the grandstands. It will also be adjacent to the campground.

“When we were brainstorming places to put this, it only felt natural. It’s a beautiful venue, there’s so much infrastructure that exists here between the air-conditioned exhibit hall to bathrooms, to the ticketing counter, to the electricity, plenty of parking and for people coming from up valley, they can take the CORE transit bus down to the Chambers bus stop and you’re here,” Gilliam said.

The grandstands will provide seating, shade and shelter in case of rain and there will be a few stages where you can catch acts in between the main stage.

The Hip Snacks and DJ Williams Band will launch the weekend at the Welcome Party at 6 p.m. on Friday night at the Eagle River Brewing Company, one of the sponsors of the event.

Produced in partnership with the Colorado Music Foundation, the festival supports the nonprofit’s mission to build and support a thriving music community by providing performance opportunities and expanding access to music education across Colorado. The Colorado Music Foundation strives to get instruments into the hands of those who want to play. The nonprofit collects new and gently used instruments via drives and donations. Recipients are given lesson packages to learn how to play and become inspired by music. The foundation also creates performance opportunities, partnering with venues, events and festivals.  

“When we were building this, we started with purpose and the mission of the Colorado Music Foundation and so we really took that mission and that purpose and approached our sponsors and really made this is a community-first event,” Gilliam said. “From our presenting sponsors like Town of Eagle, Slifer Smith & Frampton, Moe’s Original BBQ and everyone who’s on our partners page, they are huge contributors to making this event even possible. They really bought into the community aspect and the backbone of what this festival represents.”

Learn more and get tickets at eagleriverjamboree.com. Festival ticket offerings include 2-day, single-day, VIP passes and discounted teen tickets (kids 12 and under are free and there is a kids’ zone).