The free Kentucky festival depended on selling 100 pricey VIP packages—but organizer Eric Deters says the funding plan fell dramatically short.
ByBernadette Giacomazzo
September 22, 2026
Key Takeaways
- Organizer Eric Deters canceled Kentucky’s Patriots Day Freedom Fest, featuring Kid Rock and Dog the Bounty Hunter, after selling just six of the 100 $1,000 VIP packages he needed to fund the free event.
- Deters vowed he was “never ever” holding the festival again and blamed the wealthy contacts he expected to support it, declaring, “Rich people, as a whole, suck.”
- The cancellation adds to Kid Rock’s turbulent year, which has included discounted Rock the Country tickets, multiple lineup departures, an Army helicopter investigation and backlash over an ableist slur.
A Kentucky festival featuring Kid Rock and Dog the Bounty Hunter has been canceled days before showtime after organizers sold only six VIP tickets they were counting on to pay for the event.
According to the Cincinnati Inquirer, Patriots Day Freedom Fest was scheduled for Sept. 26 at organizer Eric Deters’ farm in Morning View, Kentucky, about 25 miles south of Cincinnati. General admission and parking were supposed to be free, but Deters planned to bankroll the event by convincing roughly 100 people in his circle to purchase VIP packages for $1,000 each.
Ultimately, only six did.
“When I put together Patriots Day Freedom Fest, I put it together with the game plan and the idea that I could pay for it with VIP sales of $1,000 from these 100 people that I interact with on a regular basis,” Deters explained in a Facebook video announcing the cancellation.
The math ultimately wasn’t there, and Deters made it clear there won’t be another attempt at making it happen.
“I am never ever, ever, ever, ever doing this event again—ever,” he said.
Deters also directed some frustration toward the wealthy contacts he expected to support the festival. “Rank-and-file Americans are the backbone of this country, [from] both political parties,” he said. “I want to tell you something, rich people, as a whole, suck.”
Kid Rock and Duane “Dog the Bounty Hunter” Chapman were among the biggest names advertised for this year’s event, alongside Fox News contributor Joe Concha and several political speakers. Previous Freedom Fests have attracted thousands of attendees and combined speakers with live music, fireworks, food trucks, vendors and children’s activities.
The cancellation gives Kid Rock another festival problem in a year already full of them.
His traveling “Rock the Country” festival made headlines earlier this year when organizers offered discounts of up to 50 percent on general admission passes, saying they wanted to help fans dealing with increased fuel costs.
The tour also saw a series of lineup changes: Jelly Roll dropped out of its Sioux Falls stop, while Shinedown, Morgan Wade and Carter Faith departed portions of the originally announced tour.
Kid Rock has also found himself at the center of a considerably stranger controversy involving the U.S. Army. Two AH-64 Apache helicopters flew low over his Tennessee estate in March, prompting Army officials to ground the pilots and open an administrative investigation.
Gen. Randy George, then the Army chief of staff, reportedly wanted the inquiry to follow normal protocol but was advised that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wanted it stopped. George was fired days later without a public explanation.
Hegseth ultimately terminated the investigation and cleared the crews before later taking an Apache flight with Kid Rock at Fort Belvoir in Virginia.
Then Kid Rock appeared on Jesse Watters Primetime, where his use of an ableist slur prompted Special Olympics official Loretta Claiborne to publish an open letter asking him to acknowledge the harm caused by the remark.
