Although the music at ROMP won’t start until later in the week, staging will begin for both RV and tent campers Tuesday. Those with the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum and Daviess County Parks & Recreation Department have been prepping Yellow Creek Park since Sunday to get everything in place for the music festival.
Parks Director Ross Leigh said his team has completed most of their prep work already, passing the torch to the Hall of Fame to finish preparations.
Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum Marketing Director Carly Smith said her team began prepping for the festival on Sunday, but Monday was when a large bulk of the work took place.
“We started Sunday with Diggers Fencing, who will install temporary fencing Monday and Tuesday,” Smith said. “We’ll start getting the signage out later [Monday] and will begin setting up the generators.”
The Hall of Fame will also begin marking low-lying areas so festival goers can avoid parking in areas where they could get stuck in mud. If certain areas of the field are still saturated with water when the festival begins, Smith said some of those areas may be marked off as well.
According to Smith, it takes two days to assemble the stage. But because ROMP utilizes a hydraulic stage for the event, Smith said the stage can be dropped and a cover can be put over the performers within 30 seconds. Due to recent weather conditions, staging will still occur Tuesday, with park entry allowed on Wednesday.
Two lots will be staged at Yellow Creek Baptist Church for RVs and tent campers. Staging will begin Tuesday at 8 a.m. Once the church lot fills up, RVs will be routed to Eastview Elementary School, located further down Highway 405.
“Once the school lot is full, we suggest you find a place in town to wait until about 10 a.m. on Wednesday, June 26,” ROMP representatives said. “We typically can empty both staging lots by 10 am on Wednesday, and once those RV’s are in Yellow Creek Park, we’ll allow non-staged RV’s to gain access. We’ll start bringing RV’s into the park on Wednesday, June 26 at 8 a.m.”
Tent campers will be allowed in the park once the staged RV’s have been cleared of the staging lots. Tent campers may line up near the entrance of Yellow Creek Park in the lot near the baseball fields on Hwy 144 starting on Tuesday at 8 a.m.
“We’ll start bringing tent campers into the park on Wednesday, June 26 at approximately 10 a.m., once staged RV’s have entered,” an updated website post read.
“Once those lots are full, they’re full,” Smith said. “We do that to avoid getting Highway 144 blocked up.”
Food and craft vendors will set up Wednesday morning, Smith said.
As far as rain preparation, Smith said ROMP is expecting good weather for the three-day festival. Things can always change, however.
“Rain is something we’ve dealt with every year. We know which areas are problem areas,” Smith said. “We’ve added a lot of gravel pathways that have helped with logistics. Once people park, they normally stay awhile, so we don’t expect tire tracks to tear up the fields too badly.”
The Hall of Fame and parks department have teamed up with several of the same partners in the 15 years ROMP has been held at Yellow Creek Park, making preparation for this event a little easier on all involved.
“This is an event that all Daviess County facilities have focused on, including the roads department, the Daviess County Sheriff’s Office, us and the Bluegrass Museum,” Leigh said. “We all have active roles to play in preparing the park.”
Leigh said the National Weather Service will come in from Paducah to keep an eye on the weather during the event. Leigh said the federal weather service providing assistance at ROMP is something a lot of people don’t know about.
“NWS will send a meteorologist to us during the festival, and they monitor the weather during the entire thing. They’ll let us know what we can do to prepare for any incoming weather. When we have an event the size of ROMP, the NWS will come to you if you send in an application.”
