CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Four major, award-winning musical headliners will take the stage at this year’s 2024 Charleston Sternwheel Regatta.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Sternwheel Regatta Commission and Mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin announced this year’s line-up for the five-day event, which kicks-off Wednesday, July 3 and goes through Sunday, July 7 along Charleston’s Kanawha Boulevard.
The groups and artists set to perform at year three of the newly-revived Regatta include top reggae artist, Shaggy, the Emmy-winning Beatles tribute band, The Fab Four, Eddie Montgomery of the country group Montgomery Gentry, and a cluster of 90s hip-hop artists part of the ‘I Love the 90s Tour’– Vanilla Ice, Treach of Naughty by Nature, Tone Loc, and Young MC.
Goodwin said it takes months of planning just to build-up a strong musical line-up for the Regatta.
“A lot of agents work with different artists, and so we tried to get a couple that we wanted to see and put our feelers out, it actually just starts with what we knew worked and what we know will work,” Goodwin said.
Shaggy will kick-off the four days of music that’s part of the Regatta on Wednesday, July 3. He is among the top three streamed reggae artists of all time on Spotify, behind Bob Marley and Sean Paul. Shaggy has sold over 40 million albums with 8 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, including hits such as, ‘Boombastic,’ ‘Angel,’ and ‘It Wasn’t Me.’
On Thursday, July 4, there will be a British invasion to take the stage for Independence Day. The Emmy award-winning Fab Four features note-for-note renditions of Beatles’ classics from ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ to ‘Hey Jude,’ along with three costume changes between sets.
Eddie Montgomery, the surviving member of Montgomery Gentry is expected to light up the crowd with country favorites such as ‘My Town’ and ‘Hillbilly Shoes’ on Friday, July 5.
Finally, on Saturday, July 6, Vanilla Ice, Treach of Naughty by Nature, Tone Loc, and Young MC will take the stage all at once to perform hits from a decade gone-by with their ‘I Love the 90s Tour.’
Goodwin said with accommodating the musical tastes of over 200,000 people, she and the Regatta Commission always try to bring in a variety.
She said it was quite a unique experience to see moms and their kids dancing and singing along to the songs when one of last year’s top headlining performers, Flo-Rida took the stage.
Goodwin said the variety in last year’s line-up seemed to appeal to everyone, basing it off the response they got from the crowd, which she said is something her and the commission kept in mind when putting together this Regatta’s line-up.
“The crowd tells us, and our constituents tell us what they want by showing up, and investing in their time, and quite frankly, their expendable income, so if you’re spending a Saturday night with us and you’re spending money, then what we’re doing is working,” she said.
Charleston Convention and Visitors Bureau Director and CEO, Tim Brady said the music helped contribute to the $37.2 million return on investment the city brought in with last year’s Regatta, as well as the $31 million the year prior in 2022.
“Over two years, an economic impact of $68.7 million,” Brady announced at Wednesday’s press conference.
After being discontinued in 2009, city officials agree that the Regatta has made a significant comeback when it made its return in 2022.
Brady said beyond the revenue, the five-day event has also left quite a cultural impact behind.
“This event has a great economic impact in our community, it also has a great community impact in general, because it gives us a sense of pride in place, showing that we’re proud of where we’re from here in Charleston, West Virginia,” Brady said.
Last year, the event brought in a total of 220,000 people from across the state and surrounding states.
Goodwin said not only has the Regatta brought in the bucks for the city and the region, but it went into directly supporting around 7,000 jobs that make up the area’s business landscape, as well.
“This means our hotels, this means our restaurants, this means supporting that entertainment and sports community, that hub that I talk about,” Goodwin said. “It means people saying, ‘I need more help, I need more staff, so not only hiring, but also sustaining the amount of jobs we have here.”
A full schedule of Sternwheel Regatta events can be found here.