12th Annual Watershed Festival Rocks The Gorge Amphitheatre

Watershed Festival 2024. Photo: FlyHi Films

The 12th annual Watershed Festival took place this past weekend at Washington’s Gorge Amphitheatre with a slate of performances from headliners Old Dominion, Luke Bryan and Hardy, among others.

Old Dominion headlining Watershed Festival 2024. Photo: Bubba Sellars

 Zach Top kicked off the three-day event on Friday (Aug. 2) along with Meg McRee and Terri Clark. As night began to fall, Riley Green took the stage, inviting Jake Worthington out and honoring the late Toby Keith with a clip of  “Should’ve Been A Cowboy.” Old Dominion then closed out the night, welcoming Top back out to perform a rendition of Alan Jackson’s “Chattahoochee.”

Saturday morning (Aug. 3) started with the first-ever Speedy Shedder Fun Run, a race for festival-goers that welcomed donations to support OK Kids Korral, a haven for families while a child undergoes cancer treatment. Packed with sets across two stages, attendees sang along to Ashland Craft, Brian Kelley, Dylan Scott and Cole Swindell. Bryan opened his set with “That’s My Kind of Night,” and also paid tribute to Keith with a cover of “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue.” He later had Swindell and Scott join him on stage for “This Is How We Roll.”

The annual contest for best campsite continued this year with the theme “Brought to you courtesy of the red, white and blue,” in memory of Keith, and both Friday and Saturday nights ended with dance parties under the stars at the Next From Nashville Stage with late night sets from Dee Jay Silver.

Pecos & The Rooftops, The Cadillac Three and Koe Wetzel concluded the festivities alongside headliner Hardy, who brought his genre-blending anthems and high-energy production. The weekend also featured performances from McRee, Worthington, Annie Bosko, Sadie Bass, Zandi Holup, Greylan James, Jade Eagleson, Graham Barham, Kassi Ashton and more on the Next From Nashville stage.

Hardy headlining Watershed Festival 2024. Photo: Bubba Sellars