CULLMAN – Shane Quick is the co-owner of Premier Productions, the organizer and producer of Rock the South.
Quick and his team have noticed marked growth in attendance from last year’s event.
“I would say we’ve grown anywhere from 3,000-5,000 tickets per day,” he said.
Although there were moments on Friday and Saturday evenings where space was a bit tight, Quick says the festival has not begun to reach its capacity at Heritage Park.
“I think there are a number of things that will help us keep growing (Rock The South),” he said. “But, growing (Rock The South) isn’t our number one goal every single year. Improving it, the quality of it, is a big deal. We do have a lot of space left to utilize here, and working with the city parks and recreation, I feel like we can grow the event here. But also keep the quality high.”
There were 40 states represented by fans in attendance at this year’s Rock the South, including families who flew in from New Mexico and Arizona, and some that drove all the way from Maine. That sort of reach will catch the attention of the national media, and Quick knows that.
“All the way from Rolling Stone to People have had this festival as some of the top ones to attend,” he said.
Quick also remarked on the relative safety of Rock the South compared to other festivals across the country.
“Sometimes our perspective of what a festival should be in terms of traffic and arrests (is) simply skewed because you just don’t know what other festivals have. The city of Cullman has 16,000-20,000 people in it. How many people are arrested in the city of Cullman, you know? We have a city here, in a park, for two days,” he said.
Quick also made it clear that there have not been any conversations about Rock the South leaving Cullman or Heritage Park.
“We have looked at every location across the city limits of Cullman, but what we keep coming back to is Heritage Park, which I believe is the crown jewel of Cullman,” Quick said.
One of the major complaints from those who do not attend Rock the South is that the festival damages the grounds at Heritage Park. Quick says that not only does Rock the South help pay for the repairs, but the festival serves an important purpose in utilizing the park.
“The festival writes a check back to the city parks (department) for the damages,” Quick said. “There’s also a lot we do to limit damage, all the way from the fences being held up by rebar instead of digging holes… Not everyone has a child that plays soccer, not everyone has a child that plays softball. We see a lot of young millennials and Z-generation that come in here that might not normally be here.
“The city kicked off this festival here,” he said, “and we’re continuing it.”
