Alaska State Fair hosting second Encore Drive-In Night with Kane Brown

WASILLA— The Alaska State Fair is going from rock to country with a second Encore Drive-In Night, featuring a virtual concert performed by country music star Kane Brown Sept. 26 at 6:30 p.m.

Brown’s concert follows a successful showing of Metallica with their musical guest Three Days Grace held at the fairgrounds in August, according to Alaska State Fair CEO Jerome Hertel.

Metallica’s show was part of the Encore Drive-In Nights Series, presented by national event production company, Encore Live who’s partnered with drive-in theaters and other venues across the country to provide professional entertainment with safety and social distance in mind.

“In an effort to be able to provide some of those safe events in this COVID-19 pandemic, we thought it would be a wonderful opportunity to be able to present the public with something like that,” Hertel said.

Brown’s performance for the virtual event was recorded and edited for a livecast set to stream across the nation.

“We are so humbled by fans’ response to Encore Drive-In Nights following the recent success of our Metallica and Blake Shelton events,” Encore Live CEO Walter Kinzie stated in a recent press release. “We are excited that Kane Brown, who is such a great artist, has joined our initiative. Our team has been working incredibly hard to provide people with fun and safe enjoyment this year and so far we’ve entertained more than 750,000 fans all over North America. Kane’s upcoming show is further proof that people are really into the drive-in concert experience.”

Blake Shelton, Gwen Stefani and Trace Adkins kicked off Encore’s 2020 Drive-In Nights, followed by Metallica.

Hertel said their Metallica drive-in sold out and they were eventually contacted by Encore to see if they wanted to host another show. He said they were encouraged by their first show, and if the second one goes well, they may hold additional virtual concerts on the grounds in addition to other socially distant events they have planned for the coming months.

Hertel said that Harvest Fest was a great success with over 10,000 attendees.

“It was very popular,” Hertel said.

Hertel said they’re planning to host an all new drive in series called Bright up the Night, featuring a holiday light display from Nov. 26 to Jan. 2. He said the public can expect even more ideas down the road as they continue to creatively come up with ways to create safe and socially distant events across the fairgrounds.

Tickets for the Kane Brown drive in concert can purchased at ticketmaster.com/encore-kanebrown.

For more information, visit alaskastatefair.org.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com