Saddle up and swap your football boots for cowboy boots – there’s an all-day feast of Country and Western Music coming to Forres in September.
Boots, Balls and Bales is coming to the Forres Mechanics Football Ground featuring a line-up of top sounds from tribute acts in the country genre.
And money from the concert will help raise funds for the football club too.
You can look forward to the music and song of Shania Twain, Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash and Taylor Swift, among others (full line-up below), as well as children’s games, fun competitions, and side stalls.
It’s being organised by the people that run the family markets at the old Tesco car park, so you can expect a lively event.
Popular country vibe
Organiser Kay Thomson said: “We picked a country event theme as it’s so popular at the moment in the area, the team are big Shania Twain fans and it’s easy to make a family fun festival event. The pitch also lends itself to being the perfect surface for kids games.
“There will be acts playing tributes to Johnny Cash, Taylor Swift, Dolly Parton, Shania Twain, Channa Country and Martin Bannon.”
Additional entertainment from The Forty Elephants, The County Quines, Forres Line Dancers, as well as a hot dog eating competition and arm wrestling.
She added: “Forres Mechanics approached us at the Forres Family Market in April to ask what kind of events we organised. We went for a site walk that day and then it went from there.
“The club tries to organise an event each year to raise funds towards their costs. We came up with a proposal of the country and western family day.”
Plenty of fun for all the family
And there’ll be plenty to see and do around the venue for little ones and grown-ups.
For the kids there will be games on the pitch, a parade for the best costume, kids’ trampolines, bucking bronco, candy floss, sweets bar, face painting, hair braiding, kids crafts and bouncy castle.
There’ll be street food, ice cream, coffee and cakes, and additional music from Starlite DJ, VIP area on the pitch and sponsors’ catering in the stadium, and of course a bar.
Kay’s company Your Vibe Events runs similar events in Huntly. She added: “Huntly Hairst is a celebration of food and drink but the local musicians are at the heart of the event all day. The May Day and Christmas events at each market have the main focus on food and drink but also have a stage with performers, DJ’s and acts, so this was the natural progression to shift the focus more on the music having the stadium.”
Date: Sunday 14 September, 2025, 11am to 8pm. Ticket prices (Early bird open for this week only) :
- Adult – £20 (early bird: £18)
- Child 5–12 – £12 (£10)
- Teens 13–17 – £15 (£13)
- Family (2+2) – £50 (£45)
- Under 5s free
More info and tickets available from https://yourvibeevents.com/events/categories/boots-balls-bales/
Pictured, left to right are Kay Thomson (Your Vibe Events), Sandy Dow and Sandy Sutherland (Forres Mechanics FC) and Liz Carden (Your Vibe Events).