Stagecoach Country Music Festival Continues Saturday

Tim McGraw performs at the Stagecoach Country Music Festival in Indio on April 24, 2015. Photo by Renee Schiavone.

--

Stagecoach: California’s Country Music Festival kicks off its second day Saturday, with performances by 28 acts, including ZZ Top, Dierks Bentley, and headliner Miranda Lambert.

Preparations at the polo grounds for Stagecoach, which started in 2007, began when the two-weekend Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival ended Sunday. A study commissioned by Los Angeles-based promoter, Goldenvoice, found that the two festivals contribute an estimated $254 million to the Coachella Valley’s economy.

The sold-out festival at the Empire Polo Club runs through Sunday, and around 50,000 people are expected daily.

Several Indio and La Quinta roads will be closed, and city officials expect delays on some well-traveled routes to and from the polo grounds.

Here’s a rundown of the closed roads:

-- Avenue 49 between Hjorth and Monroe streets,

-- Avenue 50 between Madison and Jackson streets,

-- Hjorth between avenues 49 and 50, and

-- Madison between avenues 49 and 52.

Delays are expected on southbound Jefferson, Washington and Monroe streets, from Interstate 10 to Avenue 52; on Highway 111 at Jefferson and Monroe streets; and on the exits from eastbound I-10 at Jefferson and Monroe.

North and southbound travelers should use Washington, Jackson, Calhoun streets and Golf Center Parkway, city officials said. Drivers trying to move east and west should use Fred Waring Drive, Miles Avenue and avenues 48 and 52, according to the city.

Taxis will be at the southwest corner of Avenue 49 and Monroe, and concert-goers can be picked up and dropped off at Avenue 52 and Madison.

Pedestrians and golf carts will not be allowed on Monroe between avenues 49 and 52, but pedestrians will be allowed access at Avenue 49 and Monroe and Avenue 52 and Madison.

To avoid traffic on I-10 west, locals should use alternates routes such as Country Club Drive, Varner Road and Fred Waring Drive, he said. Interstate traffic backed up both Mondays following the Coachella festival weekends.

Caltrans officials advised motorists to avoid unnecessary trips on Interstate 10 between Beaumont and Indio through Monday. In particular, the agency urged people to avoid driving on the stretch of freeway between Sunday afternoon and Monday night, when the bulk of attendees will be leaving from the festival.

Caltrans officials suggested using State Route 74, or Highway 62 as alternate routes.

Real-time traffic information is available at quickmap.dot.ca.gov.

In all, 226 people were arrested during the two weekends of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, mostly for drug and alcohol-related offenses. That figure was up more than 36 percent from the 166 arrests made during the 2014 festival.

The Coachella festival was also marked by tragedy when 23-year-old concertgoer Jannick Andersen was hit and killed by a train April 11, while walking on railroad tracks in Indio, about four miles northeast of the festival grounds.

High temperatures for Stagecoach are forecast to be in the high-70s today, before spiking into the mid-80s on Sunday.

More information about the Stagecoach festival is available at www.stagecoachfestival.com. Those with questions or problems, can call the city at (760) 541-7800 or send email to concertinfo@indio.org.

— City News Service.