ZZ Top is the Saturday night headliner during Rock the Locks Music Festival. The city of Umatilla is presenting the event Oct. 6-8, 2023, at Big River Golf Course.

UMATILLA — Umatilla plans to rock the first weekend in October.

“Rock the Locks” is a three-day music festival that features multiple bands from multiple decades alongside food and merchandise vendors from Oct. 6-8 at Big River Golf Course in Umatilla.

The event headliners are Collective Soul on Friday, ZZ Top on Saturday and Night Ranger on Sunday. Gates open at 11 a.m. each day, and the music starts at noon.

“It is our inaugural, first-ever multi-day outdoor music festival. We have 26 total bands in all including Everclear, Hinder, David Cook, just a lot of really great bands that are coming up,” Umatilla City Manager Dave Stockdale said. “We’re really looking forward to it. It’s going to be a great event.”

Bringing internationally known acts to the small city of Umatilla may seem daunting, but Stockdale said several factors helped bring these groups, including funding, negotiations and travel logistics.

“We’re kind of getting them as they’re coming through,” Stockdale said. “We have Collective Soul on Friday night, on the 6th, and they’re going to be in Spokane just two hours away on the very next night on the 7th. ZZ Top is going to be in Yakima the week after ours, so we’re quite fortunate in our location that people are heading to some of these larger cities that are around us and are able to pick up a gig in between, which works out for us.”

Rock the Locks is organized by the City of Umatilla and its Parks and Recreation department based on goals set by the Umatilla City Council.

“It kind of just over time built up to bringing in this festival. A few years ago, the city council said ‘we should really look at tourism and do things to make Umatilla a destination location,’ and they decided to try and do a music festival. We purchased the golf course in 2020, and we had a big space, so we went with it,” Stockdale said.

Ticket prices are $239 for three-day admission, $99 for Friday general admission, $109 for Saturday general admission, $99 for Sunday general admission or $499 for the three-day VIP ticket. Admission for children 10 and under is free with purchase of an adult general admission ticket; however, everyone in the VIP ticket area must be 21 or older.

The festival is a cashless event, and fastbar wristbands can be registered ahead of time or on site.

The full event line up includes:

• Friday: From the Ashes, Wade Aylett, Dead Fervor, Royal Bliss, Bombshell Molly, Everclear, Milonga, Ozomatli, NOT.GREEN.DAY, Collective Soul.
• Saturday: Half Step Down, The Loyal Order, Sweet Rebel D, Rail, Bombshell Molly, Jack Russell’s Great White, Nixon Rodeo, Hinder, Blistered Earth, ZZ Top.
• Sunday: Dallin Puzey, David Cook, Jagged Edge, Tonic, Blue Tattoo, Geoff Tate, Blue Tattoo, Night Ranger.

Specific times for each act, as well as information on hotels and onsite camping, is available online at www.rockthelocks.org.

Access to the event is off Bud Draper Drive to limit impacts to McNary area neighborhoods.