Voting is open in Citadel contest
Fans have until July 20 to vote, winners will perform at 3-day music fest
EXTON » Six finalists for the Citadel Rising Star Contest have been announced. It is now up to fans to determine which three artists will perform as part of Citadel Country Spirit USA – the threeday country music festival being held in Chester County in August.
Voting is underway now to determine which three artists will appear during the festival. Each winning artist or band will perform two sets on the Citadel Rising Star stage in between acts during the festival. One winner will perform on Friday, Aug. 24, one on Saturday, Aug. 25 and one on Sunday, Aug. 26. The six finalists are: • Derek Crider of Hamilton, N.J.
• Stephanie Grace of Douglasville
• Erin Kelly of Allentown • Johnni Levi of Douglasville • Brian McConnell of West Chester
• The Jess Zimmerman Band of Elverson
Voting runs through 11:59 p.m. on Friday, July 20, and the winners will be announced on Friday, July 27.
To vote, visit CitadelBanking. com/RisingStar. From there, click on the “Vote Now” button, which will take readers to a page featur-
ing videos of all the finalists. To vote — click on the “heart” icon on each video post.
“Citadel is hosting this contest to recognize local talent from the Greater Philadelphia area. As a community-based organization, it is important to have these rising stars represented at Citadel Country Spirit USA,” Jeff March, president and CEO, Citadel said in a press release.
Citadel Country Spirit USA, being held at Ludwig’s Corner Horse Show Grounds in Chester County’s Brandywine Valley, features more than 20 country music artists on two stages. The festival will feature headliners Alabama (Aug. 24), Toby Keith (Aug. 25) and Brad Paisley (Aug. 26), along with Dustin Lynch, Trace Adkins and Jake Owen (Aug. 26).
The Citadel Rising Star contest launched in May. Interested artists were required to nominate themselves for the contest, submitting a performance video. To be eligible, the artists must be from, or frequently perform around the Greater Philadelphia area.
For two of the finalists, this contest is a bit of déjà vu. The Jess Zimmerman Band and Stephanie Grace were chosen in a similar online contest for Citadel Palooza, a one day festival held in Pottstown in October. The headline act for that event was Hunter Hayes. The event raised a total of $55,000 for Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Citadel Country Spirit USA comes to Chester County from the producer of Country Summer, Northern California’s biggest country music festival. Hosted by the Chester County Conference and Visitors Bureau, thousands of fans from across the nation are expected to attend. The venue has a capacity of 15,000 daily.
The Main Stage lineup and schedule is available at CountrySpiritUSA.com. Single-day tickets and three-day passes are on sale now at CountrySpiritUSA.com. As with Citadel Palooza, a portion of ticket sales from the event will be donated to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
For more information about the Citadel Rising Star Local Band Contest, visit CitadelBanking.com/ RisingStar.