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Creation Festival (officially "Creation Festivals") consists of two annual, four-day Christian music festivals held in the United States called Creation Northeast and Creation Northwest. [1]
According to its organizers, the festivals have become the "Nation's Largest Christian Music Festival." [2] Average attendance is between 50,0000 and 100,000 annually.[3]
Both four-day festivals host more than sixty Christian rock, contemporary, and worship bands. Also featured are Christian speakers and authors, a fringe stage (hosting mostly up-and-coming and/or harder Christian rock bands), children's stage (kids entertainers geared towards smaller children), Late Nite Cafe, camping, petting zoo, baptisms, communion, fireworks, extreme sports, volleyball, giveaways, candlelight service, prayer tent, youth pastor VIP tent, and other experience-based activities. The festival is a member of the Christian Festival Association. [2] The Creation Festivals are conducted on the basis of purpose, vision, and belief. The festivals main purpose is “To present the Gospel through music, teaching and any other creative means so that those attending will be drawn to salvation and discipleship in Christ.” Their vision is for the festival to be a time of prayerful reflection and a time for all attendees, on an individual level, to let Christ into their lives through music, teaching and the spoken word. The overall belief of the Creation Festival is that the lord and savior, Jesus Christ, son of God, died on the cross to take away all of mankind’s sin, but then was raised from the dead and given eternal life. Therefore from the love and mercy given by God, Christians as a people must share the message of Christ. [1]
The festival's slogans are "A Tribute to Our Creator", and "the highlight of your summer... maybe your life."[2]
Creation Northeast History edit
Rev. Dr. Harry Thomas, Jr. and Timothy Landis founded Creation East in 1979 in Muddy Run Park in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. [4] After just five years, the festival outgrew Muddy Run Park and had to change venues. In 1984, the Creation Festival was moved to the Agape Campground in Mount Union, Pennsylvania when the Board of Jesus Ministries offered to rent out the area for the festival. This year was also the first year for a festival wide Communion, which has since become a yearly tradition.
Creation ’88 marked the festival’s tenth year celebration with the largest crowd ever to participate in the festival. The 1988 festival concluded with a large firework display that continues to be a memorable part of all Creation Festivals. The first fireworks display at the Creation Festival was in 1983.
In 1992, the festival opened a second stage, “The Fringe Stage”. Due to the festival’s positive response to the concept of multiple stages, by 1994 both stages were constantly running at the same time in order to offer more variety and availability to hear other bands and speakers. [1]
Due to thunderstorms and severe flooding, the festival was canceled in 1995 and 2006. In 1996 and 2003, the festival was held in Hershey, PA, with the concerts taking place in the Hersheypark complex arenas. Fans attending the four-day festival were offered a reduced price ticket to Hersheypark and camped alongside a large hill.
In 2008, the festival started an annual tour, passing through more than 30 cities across the U.S.[5]
In 2010, Creation Northeast was held at Agape Farm in Mount Union, Pennsylvania, from June 30 - July 3, 2010. [6] Though Tim Landis has stepped out of his original role, Rev. Dr. Harry Thomas, Jr. continues to be involved, focusing mainly on expanding the ministry of the festival, but has passed on the majority of the producing and booking to Bill Darpino and Nick Kulb. Thomas still preaches a short message at Creation every year.
Creation Northwest History edit
In 1998, the festival expanded to the west with the addition of "Creation Northwest" (aka Creation West) which has been held at the Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Washington. In 2010, Creation Festival Northwest was held at the Enumclaw Expo Center in Enumclaw, Washington, July 21–24, 2010.[7]
Performers from the Creation Festivals edit
Becoming the Archetype
Brad Stine
Children 18:3
Chris August
Chris Tomlin
Chuck Girard
David Crowder
Demon Hunter
Disciple
Family Force Five
Flatfoot 56
Group 1 Crew
Hyland
Icon For Hire
Kutless
Larry Howard
Leon Patillo
Manafest
Newsboys
Nine Lashes
Oh, Sleeper
Planet Shakers
Project 86
Rapture Ruckus
Royal Tailor
Sent By Ravens
Shonlock
Sleeping Giant
Supertones
Switchfoot
Tenth Avenue North
The City Harmonic
The Letter Black
The Rocket Summer
Thousand Foot Krutch
tobyMac
To Speak of Wolves
Underoath
Write This Down
[1]
Speakers from the Creation Festivals edit
Other Christian Music Venues edit
The ICHTHUS Christian Music Festival is held in Kentucky and typically attracts around 14,000 attendees each year, which is on the lower end of attendance compared to the Creation Festival and other Christian Music Festivals. [8]
The Christian Nightclub, Club 3 Degrees, is located in Minneapolis, Minnesota within the city’s warehouse district. Club 3 Degrees is one of the many up-and-coming Christian Nightclubs in the country. [9]
The Cornerstone Festival is a moderately sized festival of about 27,000 people. This festival takes place in the Midwest on a 579 acre camping ground and festival area. The Cornerstone Festival has been a reoccurring event for about 30 years and showcases hundreds of bands on 11 different stages. [10]
References edit
- ^ a b c d e “Creation 2012 Northeast.” 34th Annual Creation 2012, 2012. http://www.creationfest.com/ne. Cite error: The named reference "“CreationNE”" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ a b c "Creation Festivals". www.creationfest.com.com. Retrieved March 1, 2010.
- ^ "sonicbids". www.sonicbids.com/. Retrieved July 24, 2010.
- ^ Gvozdas, Susan (July 4, 2003). "Nonprofit hopes Creation breaks even". allbusiness.com. Central Penn Business Journal. Retrieved January 1, 2010.
- ^ Leichman, Aaron (November 25, 2008). "Creation Festival Concludes First-Ever Tour". christianpost.com. The Christian Post. Retrieved January 1, 2010.
- ^ Hanson, Kevin (November 9, 2009). "Concert to bring crowds to town". pnwlocalnews.com. Enumclaw Courier Herald. Retrieved January 1, 2010.
- ^ Hanson, Kevin (November 9, 2009). "Concert to bring crowds to town". pnwlocalnews.com. Enumclaw Courier Herald. Retrieved January 1, 2010.
- ^ Jackson, Christopher. “Rock Formation: What I Saw & Heard at the ICHTHUS Christian Music Festival.” Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity 23, no. 5 (October 2010): 44–46.
- ^ Campo-Flores, Arian. “‘Get Your Praise On’.” Newsweek 143, no. 16 (April 19, 2004): 56–57.
- ^ Hertz, Todd. “Jesus’ Woodstock.” Christianity Today 47, no. 7 (July 2003): 46.
External links edit
40°17′07″N 77°54′58″W / 40.28516°N 77.91624°W
Category:Christian music festivals Category:Music festivals in the United States