Red, White, & Boots Music Fest’s Mission Goes Beyond the Music
Written By: Matthew Crane | July 10, 2026
Jay Baker estimates that more than 5,000 children in Dubois County have received shoes since the county hosted its signature country music festival, Red White and Boots, six years ago.
During the Christmas season, Rally Point & the Jasper RWB committee partner with RWB sponsors, such as this year’s presenting sponsor, OFS, to distribute shoes to elementary school students throughout Dubois County.
You know you are doing something special when
“You put shoes on these kids, and you hear comments like ‘This is the best Christmas I’ve ever had’ or ‘This is the first new pair of shoes I’ve ever owned,'” Baker said. “It really strikes a chord.”
Originally, the country music festival, created in partnership with Visit Dubois County and Rally Point Events, was designed to raise funds for veterans’ needs and to provide them with shoes through a program called “Combat Boots to Work Boots.”
Rally Point Events founder and president Lance Yearby is a combat veteran who served with the Army National Guard in Iraq. He founded the nonprofit to raise money to help veterans suffering from PTSD in response to the high suicide rates among service members.
They’ve distributed more than 300 pairs of shoes and provided service animals to veterans in the area. But veterans themselves asked the organization to focus elsewhere.
“A couple of veterans suggested to us to figure out how to get this money back to kids who need it,” Baker said.
That suggestion reshaped the program. Today, the shoe give-back partners with four county school districts, which provide organizers with counts, not names, of children enrolled in free and reduced-price lunch programs.
Those moments drive the organizer’s efforts to make the signature festival better every year. And it has grown each year since it began in the field next to Uebelhor Toyota in Jasper. In 2024, it moved to League Stadium and partnered with Destination Huntingburg to add a free Friday concert to the 4th Fridays lineup.
Friday belongs to downtown Huntingburg, where Yearby’s personal connection to Tyler Reese Tritt is bringing her back after a standout performance two years ago.
Her performance at the 2024 concert has had fans pining for her return, so rather than fold her into Saturday’s bill again, Yearby moved her to a free Friday night show at Market Street Park, betting it’ll send visitors straight into downtown businesses the night before the main event.
Saturday’s lineup reflects years of thinking about how to keep the festival from aging alongside its audience. After several years leaning on 1990s country headliners, Yearby said it was time to build toward something more sustainable.
“People are getting older,” Yearby said. “We want this Music Fest to grow to be something that’s going to last for years. So I need to get a younger act in there.”
That’s brought in Ole 60 and the Jack Wharff Band, both of whom built sizable followings on TikTok rather than radio. Yearby booked Ole 60 before the band blew up in popularity. The band is friends with Jack Wharff, and that connection brought them into the mix as well. Now, they are exploding in popularity.
“With the Jack Wharff band, with Ole 60, you’re gonna see a crowd like you’ve never seen there,” Yearby said. “It’s gonna be high, high energy… the place [is] gonna rock.”
Mark Wills and Craig Campbell anchor the more traditional side of the bill, alongside Jason Michael Carroll and rising singer-songwriter Sarah Beth Brewer, whom Yearby has personally mentored.
“She will be the next big thing,” Yearby confirmed.
Ticket sales, Yearby said, have already outpaced any previous year — before the festival’s marketing campaign even began.
“We expect a sellout,” he added.
Pulling off a weekend of fun doesn’t happen in a few weeks. Baker said planning for this year’s festival began last October.
“It’s basically a year-round job,” he explained.
By the time the festival wraps each year, Baker said there’s not much left in the tank for anyone involved.
“By Sunday, you’re done, you’re physically and mentally exhausted,” he added.
Then Christmas comes around again.
“When you go, and you get to do these shoe give-back events, then you realize all the pain, blood, sweat, and tears are worth every single minute of it,” Baker said, reiterating that all of the proceeds from the event support Dubois County.
Red White and Boots is Saturday, August 29, at League Stadium. You can get a taste of great country music the day before at 4th Fridays in Market Street Park.
To purchase tickets to Red, White, and Boots tickets, visit www.rwbmusicfest.com.
