Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Tommy Vee plays his bass from a different angle during the 2016 Clovis Music Festival opening performance at Marshall Middle School Auditorium.
The Clovis County Chamber is expecting a full house June 23 for the final event of this year's Clovis Music Festival featuring Winger and FireHouse.
The Clovis Music Festival is held annually to celebrate the artists that recorded at the Norman Petty Studio such as Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison and Ritchie Valens.
The festival is generally held in September to align with Holly's birthday but got moved to June 17-25 due to consistent conflicts with home football games. This year it is being held in conjunction with Draggin' Main.
The Clovis Music Festival will host professional impersonators of the most famous of the Petty recorders, tours of the studio June 20-22 as well as all the Draggin' Main events from restaurant tours to the gearhead gathering.
Derek Cockrell, event coordinator for the Clovis Music Festival, said the expectation is to fill all 1,500 seats at the Marshall Auditorium for the Winger and Firehouse concert.
Tickets for the June 22 concert start at $20 while the June 23 show costs $30. Prices rise at the door, though Cockrell does not anticipate it coming to that.
"We believe in the music and have seen a lot of interest," Cockrell said.
He said the two events are running the chamber around $112,000 because of marketing, artists, equipment and other expenses, with sponsorships helping offset costs.
"It is the chamber's biggest event and one we are very proud of," said Cockrell.
