The Voices of America Country Music Fest will move to the Butler County Fairgrounds in 2027.
The organizer made the announcement alongside Butler County and Hamilton officials Friday.
"The Butler County Fairgrounds will allow us to create an improved fan experience, designed around the grounds of the guests (sic), and introduce camping for the first time. It will also create new opportunities for local businesses, tourism jobs, and economic growth," Tyler Wogenstahl said.
"Our goal is to build this in Butler County for the next 10 years to come," he added.
Prices for camping facilities are listed from $330.57 for tent camping up to $1055.96 for full hookup RV access.
The event is planned for Aug. 5-7, 2027. Wogenstahl said the festival is always announced as three days, though it's been extended to four in past years.
Butler County Sheriff Richard K. Jones and Prosecutor Mike Gmoser said they expect the county, Hamilton, and Fairfield Township to make a lot of money off of hosting the event, though Jones declined to give details about the contract. He did say the sides "started this endeavor" eight days ago and a contract was signed Aug. 21.
Gmoser said Jones used the Sheriff Department's helicopter to help find a new festival location.
"His willingness to go out with his pilot — which is normally out there doing surveillance for crime in Butler County, for drug users and abusers, for accidents and situations and missing persons — he got in that helicopter and surveyed the area, and came to the conclusion that there was room in Butler County for this festival," Gmoser said.
The event sought a new location after West Chester officials announced they wouldn't renew the contract with Further Concepts and Investors, LLC (dba Further Festivals), saying it determined the economic impact wasn't enough to offset public safety operation costs.
The township later added in a statement — along with copies of contracts and legal notices — that Further Festivals had "repeatedly failed to adhere to the terms of the license agreement, missing critical public safety planning deadlines and failing to pay their bills on time to both the Township and our partners. For the 2024 and 2025 events, Further Festivals was late to pay for public safety costs, forcing the Township to involve legal counsel to receive payment, which burdens taxpayers with unnecessary legal fees."
Since the new contract was not shared with media, it's unclear who will pay for what, how much the fairgrounds will be paid, or whether taxpayers will bear any of the costs.
"The county commissioners aren't putting any money up. [Hamilton's] not putting any money up. I don't know if anybody up here is putting any money up," Jones said.
Jones dismissed claims about slow payments and took at swipe at West Chester, saying his deputies haven't yet been paid for this year's festival. West Chester tells WVXU those payments were issued on Monday of this week and said the township had emailed the sheriff's office to tell them the payments were being processed.
Gmoser said the event will be good for the fairgrounds as it will be able to use revenues in the future to fix up its aging facilities.
As WVXU previously reported, according to court records, Wogenstahl is being sued by Wright-Patt Credit Union for breach of contract. The credit union alleges Wogenstahl took out a $300,000 loan in 2024 and still owes $262,074.10. In a response, Wogenstahl's attorney requests the case be dismissed.
Records also show Wogenstahl was sued last year in Butler County for failure to pay a business for festival setup services. That case was voluntarily dismissed several weeks later.
Wogenstahl is also currently facing charges in Hamilton County for an incident on July 22. He was arrested and faces three counts related to improperly handling a firearm in a motor vehicle and operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The next hearing in that case is set for Sept. 8.
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