Visit Sacramento — the city’s tourism bureau — held its State of Tourism event Tuesday morning and announced the country music festival GoldenSky will return to Sacramento for three years starting in 2027.
Organizers had previously cited insufficient artist bookings as the reason for the postponement in 2025, and the delay in 2026 was made “to ensure GoldenSky returns at the right time and level our fans, artists and partners expect,” according to GoldenSky organizer Danny Wimmer Presents.
GoldenSky usually takes place the weekend after rock, punk and heavy metal music festival Aftershock.
Visit Sacramento’s President and CEO, Mike Testa, revealed they’ve added another genre to GoldenSky, aiming to replicate the success of Aftershock.
“It took us a couple years to reach an agreement [and] form a different partnership to bring that event back,” Testa said. “2027-28 and 29, we've got a three-year commitment, and the goal is after 2029, it stands on its own, it's successful, and that it stays in Sacramento.”
Testa said he thinks everyone sees the impact of Aftershock, which started as a one-day event that has now expanded to a four-day festival in Discovery Park.
In Louisville, Kentucky, they have back-to-back festivals – Louder Than Life and Bourbon and Beyond – so city leaders like Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty and City Councilmember Caity Maple traveled to Kentucky to see how that might translate to Sacramento, according to Testa.
Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty made the announcement that the festival will return and said he’s been working behind the scenes to get GoldenSky back to Sacramento.
“We were able to work with Sacramento and the city and work out an arrangement for [GoldenSky] to come back for three years, starting in 27,” McCarty said. “It'll probably be a three-day festival, and people are gonna be really excited about this headliner. I can't announce it today, but it'll be a big deal.”
Also announced at the State of Tourism event, the California International Marathon, the 42-year-old marathon that starts in Folsom and ends at the State Capitol in Sacramento, will be expanding.
The race goes over the train tracks, so in order to make it safer, Union Pacific is willing to extend the closure of their tracks by another 45 minutes. CIM caps the runners participating at 10,000 people.
“Now we can accommodate those 6,000 runners on the waiting list, plus more, and effectively double the attendance capacity of the race,” Testa said.
The lead chefs for the 13th annual Tower Bridge Dinner was also announced. Kate Sutherland from Waterboy, Giancarlo Zapata from Chicha Peruvian Kitchen, Francisco Rivera from Hawks Public House and Joe Pruner from Bocce.
(L-R) Giancarlo Zapata, Francisco Rivera and Joe Pruner are three of the four head chefs for the 13th annual Tower Bridge Dinner.Keyshawn Davis/CapRadioPruner said it’s an honor to be a part of the group of chefs preparing the meals for the dinner.
“The four of us have already been working on the menu together and we’re really excited about everything.” Pruner said. “The menu is 90% complete.”
The Tower Bridge Dinner will take place in early September.
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