Zach Bryan, Charley Crockett, Graycie York headline this year's Peacemaker Festival

Paige Eichkorn, Fort Smith Times Record
·2 min read

The eighth annual Peacemaker Festival has sold out across 31 states this year, putting it in the national arena for music festivals.

The festival will be at the Riverfront Park Amphitheater at 4 p.m. on Friday, July 29 and at 3 p.m. on Saturday, July 30.

A pre-party of performances from The Steel Woods, Ella Langley Music and the Joe Stamm Band was open to the public Thursday at The Majestic downtown.

Trent Goins, president of the festival's board said that over the last seven years, the festival has donated over three quarters of a million to local children's charities.

Zach Bryan will perform at the Peacemaker Festival in downtown Fort Smith on July 29, 2022.
Zach Bryan will perform at the Peacemaker Festival in downtown Fort Smith on July 29, 2022.

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"We donate our time because we wanted to put an event in downtown Fort Smith that supported downtown Fort Smith but the other part of our mission was to raise money for the children's charities," he said.

The charities that receive donations from the festival include Fort Smith Children's Emergency Shelter, Girls Inc., Developmental Wings, Fort Smith Boys and Girls Clubs, and Girl Scouts Diamonds of Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.

Goins is excited to bring a few of the "most in-demand" country artists in America to Fort Smith on July 29 and 30.

Peacemaker Festival's emerging artist of the year Graycie York will perform in Fort Smith at the Peacemaker Festival on July 30, 2022.
Peacemaker Festival's emerging artist of the year Graycie York will perform in Fort Smith at the Peacemaker Festival on July 30, 2022.

"We're very fortunate to have Zack Bryan headlining Friday night," he said. "The Steel Woods is direct support under Zack Bryan. We've got Shane Smith and the Saints which is probably one of the best live touring bands today. They've been out on the road with Whiskey Myers for the last six months so we're excited about that."

Goins said the festival is excited to welcome back Tanner Ursey from last year's lineup, Ursey recently collaborated with the festival's emerging artist of the year, Graycie York on a new track called "Beautiful Lies."

Lukas Nelson and the Promise of the Real will perform at the Peacemaker Festival in Fort Smith on July 29, 2022.
Lukas Nelson and the Promise of the Real will perform at the Peacemaker Festival in Fort Smith on July 29, 2022.

Willie Nelson's youngest son has his own band now, Lukas Nelson and the Promise of the Real which has made a name for itself in country music.

"Lukas has kind of made his chops in the music world," Goins said. "For the longest time Lukas and Promise of the Real were the backing bands for Neil Young while he was touring, so they really had had a chance to kind of grow and get their stage presence and we're really excited about that."

This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Zach Bryan, Charley Crockett, and more headline Peacemaker Festival