May 6—Grab your cowboy hats, slip on your favorite belt buckle and slide into a nice pair of boots because country music festival "Boots in the Park" is back.

On Saturday, May 17, and Sunday, May 18, Balloon Fiesta Park will be filled with country music stars, including headliners Luke Combs and Cody Johnson, along with up-and-coming stars like Jon Pardi, Parker McCollum and country DJ Luwiss Lux, who will play music in between sets.

"For year two, we've invested in the Albuquerque marketplace and community by bringing these large name artists and going from a single day event to a two-day event," said Steve Thatcher, CEO of Activated Events. "The reaction that we got from the fans that were there really showed us that there were a lot of live music enthusiasts, and we wanted to be able to build that void for them."

"Boots in the Park" is a traveling country music festival tour, traveling to 20 cities across the nation to bring a curated lineup of artists to fans. Last year, the tour stopped in Albuquerque for one-day, bringing in roughly 15,000 people to Balloon Fiesta Park. This year, Boots in the Park expects to bring in 30,000 people.

"'Boots in the Park' is a traveling country music festival tour," said Steve Thatcher, CEO of Activated Events. "It's top level production from the stage, the sound, the lighting and the video. The stage is four times the size of last year and with the stage comes enormous video walls and enormous sound and just more and more production, which just delivers an even higher level experience with the fans."

While the highlight of the event is the A-list lineup of country stars, Thatcher said that this year will have a large variety of ancillary activities. This year, "Boots in the Park plans" to make the event bigger and better with the addition of the Whiskey Barrel Saloon and the Cactus Cantina.

With a special ticket, guests can taste test from 101 different whiskeys or tequilas with the option of enjoying one bottom shelf, two middle shelf and one top shelf whiskey tasting. Guests will receive a "passport," and bartenders will stamp the paper to mark which liquors a guest has tried and which they like so they can purchase it for themselves after the show.

"We always like to see where the fans interests lie between tequila and whiskey," Thatcher said. "It's kind of like a little competition to see which is more popular. When you see it, it's almost like an art piece in it of itself, just the layout of the bar and 101 different whiskeys and tequilas, all displayed on the back bar there."

Between sips of top shelf liquor and country music artists, guests can take a break in the line dancing tent to enjoy watching people learn and perform line dances. Various art installations will also be up during the event for guests to enjoy or snap a photo of.

Guests will also have the option to enjoy a meal from local food vendors, who will be selling pizza tacos, and a wide variety of barbecue. At the end of the night, attendees will be treated to a drone show to cap off the weekend.

"Whether you're a country fan or not, come for the experience," Thatcher said. "This is the largest country show in New Mexico all year and this is the event of the year and people should come out and have fun and socialize with other country fans."