One of the biggest rising stars in country music is coming to 琉璃神社.

After music festival Denim on the Diamond was postponed because of the Grouse Complex of wildfires in the Central Okanagan, not all the scheduled artists could make the new dates, set for Friday, Oct. 6 and Saturday, Oct. 7. Included in that was country star Nate Smith, who wasn鈥檛 able to reschedule.

But when one door closes, another one opens and taking Smith鈥檚 spot is upcoming country star ERNEST.

The stars aligned perfectly for Denim on the Diamond Mitch Carefoot and Kurt Jory to secure ERNEST for the festival as he鈥檚 currently the opening act on Morgan Wallen鈥檚 tour, which is in Vancouver a couple of days before Denim starts.

鈥淥nce we found out Denim was going to be postponed, we worked around the clock to secure an artist line-up fans will love, organized dates and a suitable venue with the City, and basically started from the ground up to reshape this year鈥檚 event,鈥� said Carefoot. 鈥淲e are so thrilled to have ERNEST join this year鈥檚 line-up, he鈥檚 one of the fastest rising stars. We couldn鈥檛 be more excited to showcase Ernest on our stage.鈥�

The 鈥楩lower Shops鈥� singer has written songs for Wallen as well as fellow country stars Sam Hunt, Kane Brown, Chris Lane, Florida Georiga Line, Jelly Roll, and Langley鈥檚 Dallas Smith.

Country star Mackenzie Porter was able to reschedule and will perform before ERNEST on Friday night, which has been deemed as 鈥榗ountry night鈥�. Bryce Vine was also able to reschedule and is the Saturday night headliner.

After being forced to postpone and being in limbo because of the wildfires, Jory and Carefoot didn鈥檛 know what Denim on the Diamond was going to look like but were very pleased to reschedule the event.

鈥淥kanagan residents have suffered immeasurable blows from the recent wildfires that claimed hundreds of houses and displaced thousands (myself included) while business owners were forced to turn away visitors during peak tourism season,鈥� said Jory. 鈥淣eedless to say, we have all overcome different challenges recently but the silver lining has been witnessing firsthand how the community has come together. We are doing our part to attract people back to our amazing city and give locals a much-needed weekend of fun.鈥�

Carefoot and Jory are also providing complementary passes to firefighters, first responders, and those who lost their homes in the wildfires as well as raising money for Central Okanagan Wildfire Relief organizations.

Denim is also now off the diamond as the rescheduled event is taking place at City Park in Downtown 琉璃神社.

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jordy.cunningham@kelownacapnews.com
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