Buckle Up Music Festival
Buckle Up Music Festival was a three-day country and roots music event held in Cincinnati, Ohio, along the Ohio River at Sawyer Point Park and Yeatman’s Cove. It started on July 18, 2014, and featured more than 80 performances on six stages. The festival was founded by Bill Donabedian, who helped create the MidPoint Music Festival.
The 2014 lineup included big names like Willie Nelson, Alison Krauss & Union Station, Emmylou Harris, and Alabama. After a successful first year, the festival did not run in 2015, and the 2016 edition was canceled just ten days before it was to begin. In a 2023 interview, Donabedian said the cancellation was due to disagreements with the city over a live-event tax law that has since been repealed.
A lawsuit filed in 2015 was settled with the city paying Donabedian $56,000. The festival featured a wide range of artists across multiple stages, including River Stage, Bud Light Stage, Amphitheater Stage, Main Stage, Acoustic Stage, Lawn Stage, and VIP Stage, over the weekend.
In short, Buckle Up offered a weekend of country and roots music on Cincinnati’s riverfront, drawing many fans and notable performers, before financial and political challenges ended its run after the 2014 season and led to cancellations in 2015 and 2016.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 10:37 (CET).