The Great Frederick Fair has been a fun tradition for many Marylanders and tourists. The crazy rides, carnival games, and the great food have attracted many to the fair. Additionally, many performances take place at the Grandstand Stage located within the fairgrounds. These performances range from bands, to comedy, to even ventriloquism!
This year the fair welcomed The Gin Blossoms, Zach Williams, Ellie King, Tracy Byrd, and Walker Hayes. These established artists are making their debut here in Frederick! The Gin Blossoms are an Alternative Rock band that formed in 1987, they consist of the guitarists, Doug Hopkins and Scott Johnson, the bass man Bill Leen, drummers Phillip Rhodes and Jesse Valenzuela, and vocalist Robin Wilsons.
WIlliams is a Christian rock artist that started his career in 2007. He was the lead vocalist of Zach Williams & The Reformation band, as well as the Christian group Brothers of Grace. The band was later renamed to Zach Williams and the Brothers of Grace. He then started his solo career in 2016, releasing three albums.
King takes her inspiration from country, rock and the blues. She started making music when she was 22 releasing her debut EP, The Ellie King EP. From then on she has released three hit studio albums. One of the albums contains one of her most popular songs, “Ex’s and Oh’s” with over 460 million streams. Freshman Jayna Day went to go see King at The Frederick Fair in September. “It was good, I really liked her music and how she performed,” stated Day.
Byrd is a country music artist that started making music in 1992. He released his most popular album, No Ordinary Man with 122,600 listeners. Although Byrd is not as popular as the other performers, his listeners have increased greatly since the performance at the fair, according to Last FM.
Last, but not least, is Hayes. Hayes is a country and pop artist that started making music in 2010. When he released his debut single, “Pants” it ended up getting top 60 on the Hot Country Songs chart. Hayes’ song, “Fancy Like That” got 15.4 million U.S. streams and the music video got 132 million views. According to Last FM, since his concert on September 23rd, his listeners have skyrocketed.
This year’s Frederick Fair Grandstand performances have been a great success and helped lots of musicians increase in fans! Many locals are excited for the event to come again next year, and eagerly look forward to seeing new artists take the stage.
