Ohio County Kentucky Rock the Dam Fest Festival
One summer evening a year, the loudest address in Ohio County is the outdoor amphitheater in Beaver Dam’s City Park, where a single-day classic-rock concert draws its crowd under a name that keeps changing its clothes. The festival-guide layer calls it Rock the Dam Fest. The tourism commission has billed editions as the ’80s Rock the DAM Fest. Listing layers count the years off in the title itself, printing ROCK the DAM 7 for one edition and Rock The Dam 9 for another. The sheet behind this article doubles the generic word at the end, a wording no source uses; every layer read shortens the name to Rock the Dam Fest or one of its printed variants.
On the event’s shape, though, every layer tells the same story. This is not a county fair with a stage attached. It is a concert bill, and only a concert bill: a run of classic-rock and nineteen-eighties hard-rock acts, gates in the late afternoon, music into the night, tickets sold in advance, and a small Kentucky city playing host to era-defining voices.
About
The published name forms stand side by side in the record and are kept unmerged here. “Rock the Dam Fest” is the form carried by a festival-guide layer’s listings for two thousand twenty-four and two thousand twenty-six, and by a lifestyle magazine layer’s August two thousand twenty-six roundup. The tourism commission’s own announcements use “’80s Rock the DAM Fest” for two thousand twenty-two and “80’s Rock the Dam Fest” for two thousand twenty-six, two apostrophe styles for the same idea. Event-listing layers print “ROCK the DAM 7” and “Rock The Dam 9”, folding the edition count into the billing, while ticket-sales layers shorten everything to “Rock The Dam”.
Beaver Dam, the host community, sits in Ohio County, Kentucky. A travel layer is plain about the town’s standing: Beaver Dam is not the county seat, and that honour belongs to Hartford. The venue is the Beaver Dam Amphitheater, set in the city’s park; a state magazine layer on the venue gives that setting, and one listing prints the British-style spelling Beaver Dam Amphitheatre, which stands here exactly as printed.
Two organiser forms appear in the layers, unmerged. The Beaver Dam Tourism Commission is the body the tourism layer shows proudly announcing the editions, year after year. The Beaver Dam Amphitheater itself is named as host and publisher on event-listing layers. Ticket and venue layers also print box-office and seating details; those details are noted here by existence only and never reproduced.
For a useful comparison, see the Ohio County Kentucky Strawberry Festival for another county festival.
Quick Facts
| Item | Detail |
| Published core name | Rock the Dam Fest |
| Other printed billings | ’80s Rock the DAM Fest; 80’s Rock the Dam Fest; ROCK the DAM 7; Rock The Dam 9; Rock The Dam |
| Host community | Beaver Dam, Ohio County, Kentucky |
| County seat | Hartford; Beaver Dam does not hold that role |
| Venue | Beaver Dam Amphitheater, also printed Beaver Dam Amphitheatre, in City Park |
| Format | A single-day classic-rock and nineteen-eighties hard-rock concert |
| Announcing body | Beaver Dam Tourism Commission; the amphitheater named as host on listing layers |
| Documented editions | Two thousand eighteen, two thousand twenty-two, two thousand twenty-four, two thousand twenty-six |
| Admission | Ticketed; one ticket layer for two thousand twenty-six lists prices beginning at seventy-five dollars |
| Season | Summer, with documented dates from late July to the first of August |
History
A ticket-sales layer supplies the beginning: Rock The Dam began in two thousand seventeen as a classic and ’80s rock concert event at Beaver Dam Amphitheater. That sentence is the whole founding account the layers offer.
Running alongside it is a trail of annual billings. A radio station layer bills the two thousand eighteen edition as the 2nd Annual ’80s ROCK the DAM Fest, capitals and all. The tourism commission’s own event layer bills two thousand twenty-two as the 5th Annual ’80s Rock the DAM Fest. Listing and ticket layers then print the seventh edition in two thousand twenty-four and the ninth in two thousand twenty-six. Those billings sit comfortably beside the two thousand seventeen statement, and they are recorded here as billings only, in their printed forms, never merged into a single numbering claim of this article’s own.
The two thousand twenty-four edition also carried a wider banner: an event-listing layer places ROCK the DAM 7 inside the First United Bank & Trust 2024 Concert Series, tying the night to the amphitheater’s broader season. Beyond that, the record keeps the festival in its own lane. The amphitheater hosts many other concerts across a summer, including a separately billed event printed in capitals as STOMP AND HOLLER, and those are different events with different bills. Beaver Dam also keeps a Strawberry Festival, a separate gathering of an entirely different kind. Neither record lends this one any facts.
What to Expect
The clearest picture comes from walking the documented editions in order. Two thousand eighteen, per a radio station layer, was headlined by Night Ranger, with Warrant, Slaughter, Autograph and U-Turn completing a five-act bill. The thirtieth of July two thousand twenty-two, per the tourism commission’s own event layer, brought Stephen Pearcy, billed as the voice of Ratt, alongside Quiet Riot, KIX and BulletBoys; gates opened at five in the evening and the show began at six.
The twentieth of July two thousand twenty-four, billed ROCK the DAM 7 by an event-listing layer, paired Tesla with Winger, Firehouse and Paradise Kitty, with gates at four thirty in the afternoon and the show at six in the evening. The first of August two thousand twenty-six arrived under two billings at once: a concert-setlist layer calls it the 80’s Rock the Dam Fest 2026, and a ticket layer calls it Rock The Dam 9. Its bill joined Cinderella’s Tom Keifer Band, White Lion, Steven Adler of Guns N’ Roses and Great White, with doors at five in the evening and music at six thirty.
Across all four editions the pattern holds steady: one day, one outdoor stage, several acts deep in the glam-metal and hard-rock catalogue, and an evening start. No layer prints a fair-style programme around the music — no midway, no contests, no exhibits — so none is promised here. A concertgoer should plan around the bill itself, the gates time printed for that year, and a summer night outdoors.
Planning Your Visit
Tickets come first, because every layer treats the night as a ticketed event. A ticket layer for the two thousand twenty-six edition lists prices beginning at seventy-five dollars; that figure belongs to that layer and that year alone, and earlier editions carry no price in the record at all. Box-office and seating details exist in the ticket and venue layers, and checking them close to the date is the surest way to confirm the current arrangements.
Timing deserves the same care. Documented gates times have shifted between editions — four thirty in the afternoon in two thousand twenty-four, five in the evening in two thousand twenty-two and two thousand twenty-six — so the printed time for the year in question governs, not habit. Arriving ahead of the doors leaves room for parking, entry and finding a place before the first act.
The setting is an open-air amphitheater in a city park at the height of summer. Light clothing, water and patience with warm evening air suit the place better than anything heavier. Because the whole festival occupies a single day, there is no second chance within the same edition: the bill you miss is the bill that played.
A Sample Concert-Day Itinerary
An itinerary for this festival is really an itinerary for one long evening, and the documented two thousand twenty-six times sketch its frame. Doors opened at five in the evening and the music began at six thirty, so a relaxed arrival in the late afternoon — early enough to clear entry without a rush — sets the night up well.
The gap between doors and downbeat is the natural window for settling in: find your spot, take stock of the amphitheater, and let the park fill around you. Once the music starts, the documented bills run several acts deep, from openers through to headliners, so the middle of the evening belongs to the stage rather than to errands.
When the final act finishes, the night simply ends; there is no following festival day to plan around. A slow exit with the crowd, and the drive back through a quiet Ohio County, closes the shape of every documented edition.
Comparing the Documented Editions
Set side by side, the four editions show a format settling into itself. Two thousand eighteen leaned on a five-act bill with Night Ranger at the top. Two thousand twenty-two narrowed to four acts and leaned into star billing, presenting Stephen Pearcy explicitly as the voice of Ratt. Two thousand twenty-four, with Tesla leading Winger, Firehouse and Paradise Kitty, is the edition the listing layer folds into a named concert series.
Two thousand twenty-six reads as the most concentrated version yet: four acts, every one of them rooted in the nineteen-eighties hard-rock world, from Cinderella’s Tom Keifer Band to Steven Adler of Guns N’ Roses. The drift across the decade is not in the format — one day, one stage, evening gates — but in the billing, which grows more comfortable presenting the night as a gathering of era-defining names.
A Concert-Day Checklist
- Confirm the date, billing and gates time printed for the edition you plan to attend
- Buy tickets in advance through the box office rather than leaving entry to the day itself
- Check the seating and box-office details the ticket layers publish before travelling
- Arrive before the printed doors time so entry stays unhurried
- Dress for a warm summer evening outdoors in a park setting
- Bring water and plan for several hours in one place once the music starts
- Keep the whole evening free, since the bill runs several acts deep
- Remember that the festival lasts a single day, with no second date in the same edition
Beyond the Festival
The amphitheater does not fall silent when this bill ends. The venue anchors a wider concert calendar in Beaver Dam’s City Park, and the listing layers that carry Rock the Dam also carry those other nights, each under its own name. Treating them as one blur would misread the record: the STOMP AND HOLLER billing, for instance, belongs to a different event entirely.
Beaver Dam itself rewards a slower look. It is the larger of Ohio County’s two best-known communities in this record, yet the county seat is Hartford, and the travel layer that sorts out that relationship is the same one that places the festival’s town. A visitor with hours to spare before gates time is in a small Kentucky city with a park at its centre, not a fairground town — the concert is the day’s destination, and the town is its frame.
Why This Festival Matters
A named, numbered, recurring rock night does quiet work for a small city. The tourism commission’s announcements present each edition with evident pride, and the steady arithmetic of the billings — second, fifth, seventh, ninth — traces a series that kept returning across nearly a decade of summers. For Beaver Dam, the festival turns a city-park amphitheater into a regional draw for one night at a time.
For the audience, the appeal is concentration. Arena-era hard rock rarely arrives in towns of this size; here it arrives as a full bill, several acts deep, under a name the layers have carried since two thousand seventeen. That continuity, documented rather than assumed, is the festival’s real substance.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which performers made up the most recent documented bill?
The first of August two thousand twenty-six edition, billed as Rock The Dam 9 by a ticket layer, joined Cinderella’s Tom Keifer Band, White Lion, Steven Adler of Guns N’ Roses and Great White. A concert-setlist layer bills the same night as the 80’s Rock the Dam Fest 2026, with doors at five in the evening and music at six thirty.
Is this a fair with concerts, or purely a concert?
Purely a concert, on everything the layers print. The ticket and listing layers describe a single-day classic-rock bill at an outdoor amphitheater, and no layer mentions fairground elements such as contests, exhibits or a midway. The festival’s whole documented programme is its lineup of acts.
Why does the same event appear under so many different names?
Because each layer prints its own form and none has been merged here. The festival-guide layer uses Rock the Dam Fest, the tourism commission favours the ’80s Rock the DAM Fest styling, and listing layers fold the year count into ROCK the DAM 7 and Rock The Dam 9. The variations are matters of billing, not of identity.
What did a ticket cost for the latest edition in the record?
A ticket layer for the two thousand twenty-six edition states that prices begin at seventy-five dollars. That figure is fenced to that layer and that year; the record prints no prices for the two thousand eighteen, two thousand twenty-two or two thousand twenty-four editions.
What to Expect From the Next Ohio County Kentucky Rock the Dam Fest Festival
How often is Ohio County Kentucky Rock the Dam Fest Festival held?
The documented pattern is one edition in a summer, with dated bills in two thousand eighteen, two thousand twenty-two, two thousand twenty-four and two thousand twenty-six, a beginning stated as two thousand seventeen, and annual billings running through the ninth edition. The layers show a recurring summer series rather than a one-off concert.
When is the next Ohio County Kentucky Rock the Dam Fest Festival?
The layers gathered for this article stop at the first of August two thousand twenty-six. Nothing in them prints a date for a following edition, so the honest answer is that the next date will come from the tourism commission’s announcements and the ticket layers when they appear.
Will the dates change?
The date has never been fixed, though it has stayed inside a narrow band. Documented editions fall on the thirtieth of July, the twentieth of July and the first of August, so the series moves around the height of summer rather than holding one fixed day. A future edition could reasonably land anywhere in that same late-July to early-August window, but only its own announcement would settle it.
Closing
Rock the Dam Fest survives in the record as a small city’s big night: four documented editions of era-defining hard rock, a billing trail that counts its own years, and an amphitheater in a city park doing the hosting. Kept strictly to what the layers print, it needs nothing added.
