The Boots and Hearts country music festival happened at Burls Creek Event Grounds from August 7-10, 2025.
Boots and Hearts organizers (Republic Live, Burl’s Creek) hit the mark. They raised the bar yet again with an impressive host of sponsors ranging from Monster Energy, Jack Link’s Beef Jerky, and Sap Water to keep you fuelled, to Dove, Batiste, and Listerine, keeping you refreshed. These brands are showcasing their products and handing out numerous free samples. The entertainment didn’t stop with the live music, featuring a wide variety of events, including dirt biking, a mini circus complete with a full-sized Ferris wheel, loads of games, and beer pong. OLG was on site with lottery-style games, including a room filled with dollar bills and a challenge to grab as many as you can before the timer runs out. Once you’ve worked up an appetite and are ready to hit the snack bar, taste buds are in for a treat with a chicken tender-themed food truck, pizza pizza, fresh-squeezed lemonade (Tornado is my fav), and Circle K serving up Frosters to beat the heat like you’re on summer break in the 2000s. Lots of vendors to keep your buzz going, whatever that might be, from vape shops to a tequila mixer bar. While it’s love of the music that brings people in, it’s the unreal atmosphere and nonstop excitement that’s sure to keep them coming back.
When I say fans were dedicated, I mean it; there was a girl who stood in the barricade at Main Stage all weekend holding up a sign asking for guitar picks and drumsticks, managing to collect memorabilia from nearly all bands that performed.
Friday, August 8th, started out beautiful with the sun shining, which suddenly took a turn for the worse when the gates were delayed in being opened due to tornado warnings and rain. After the warnings ended, the sun was shining, and Sacha hit the Main Stage, strutting down the catwalk stage with her band in tow. She made the best of the situation and opened the Main Stage with a bang. Despite some more rain, the fans were still in their rain ponchos, screaming along with her to her song One Hit Wonder. At the Front Porch Stage, Mackenzie Carpenter played some songs from her newest album, Hey Country Queen, including Country Queen; during which she stopped the show to hand a fan in the front row a hat with that lyric on it. After that, the crowd simultaneously started to wave their arms back and forth along to the song. Cameron Whitcomb made a show-topping performance as he entered the stage with a backflip to begin his set. His performance was extremely moving, making multiple female fans in the crowd cry as they sang along to the lyrics to his newest single Fragile. There was a boy in the crowd who was there as his first concert, had to stop and make sure that moment was captured for him to look back on. Thunderstorms hit again, which caused Hannah McFarland’s set to be cancelled, but during Dylan Marlow’s, he allowed her to come on stage and sing a few of her songs. Such a heartfelt thing for him, especially since his set was also cut short. As the end of the night drew near, Bailey Zimmerman drew in quite the crowd; the venue looked like it might hit capacity due to how many people packed into it to watch his set. Bailey put on quite the spectacle as he jumped from out of the floor, and then swung onto the stage, sticking his landing out of a back flip as a fire explosion made it’s way acro
ss the stage. Throughout the performance, there was fans on their friend’s shoulders, dancing and singing along, as well as signs being held up that read “I Heart Bailey Zimmerman.” To make his performance even more memorable, lots of smoke bombs were used to fill the stage as he grabbed a guitar to play a solo together with his bandmates.
Saturday, August 9, had the sun shining down on the Front Porch Stage, where Kelsi Mayne started the day off with her high-energy set, dancing and twirling along to her new hit songs Breaking Bad and Georgia On My Mind. The Band Perry made their comeback to the stage, replacing one band member with Kimberly Perry’s partner, Johnny Costello on guitar, her brother, Reid Perry, still rocking the bass. Owen Reigning, who was a previous winner of the 2022 Emerging Artists Showcase at Boots and Hearts, made the stage as he packed the venue with tons of fans, and performed a great set which involved using a wheelbarrow to bring in his guitar. There were even dogs on stage with Chase Rice’s prized pup Jack, performing a dance number (with some help from his owner). Sam Hunt closed out the night at the Main Stage with an unplanned power outage during the last half of his final song House Party. This didn’t stop the crowd from continuing the party, as they helped him by collectively singing along to finish it off. There was a last-minute add to the festival days prior for the Late Night After Party presented by Monster Energy, which was performed by Toronto legends Down With Webster.
It’s the final day and hotter than ever, but it doesn’t stop the festival goers from ending it off right. With performances by none other than Dallas Smith and his bandmates from Default partying on the Front Porch Stage with their hit single Wasting My Time, to Lakeview bringing the heat to the Main Stage with their unique style that meshes together country and heavy metal. Chris Daughtry’s daughter came onto the stage to help sing their single Waiting for Superman. HARDY closed out the festival with a set full of continuous pyrotechnics as he two-stepped across the stage to songs like Jim Bob, as well as Wait In The Truck, with the help of country-rock icon Meghan Patrick to do a duet.
For more information about the festival and the artists that performed, check out The Boots and Hearts Instagram
To check out the interview done with up and coming country music star Kelsi Mayne it can be found on Youtube
