Haggard BoxCar Music Festival
Event Details
The 2020 Haggard Box Car Festival has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 crisis. Thank you to our loyal fans and musical talent for your support during this difficult time. The Kern County Museum will bring the festival back in the Spring of 2021 bigger and better than ever!
One of the Kern County Museum’s biggest Fundraiser, Haggard Boxcar Music Festival is a tribute to Merle Haggard and his legacy of The Bakersfield Sound!
There will be GREAT country music, delicious food, refreshing beer and wine, and a special tour of the Haggard Family’s Boxcar, the childhood home of country music legend Merle Haggard.
Tickets are $30 in advance or $35 at the door.
Special thanks to Bakersfield Music Hall of Fame. We enjoy our partnership with them and the great talent they bring to the Haggard Boxcar Festival.
Bring your lawn chairs!
Need a Hotel Room? The Marriott Bakersfield At The Convention Center is providing all of our out of town guests with discounted rooms.
Prohibitions:
- No weapons
- No outside food or drink
- no blankets or umbrellas
- no smoking
- All guests will be subject to screening and/or inspection
2020 Sponsors
Get the VIP treatment! Meet the bands, get the best seats in the house, and get the swag along with many other perks. Click below to find out more! Below are our 2020 Sponsors. We appreciate them all so much. There’s still time to be a 2020 sponsor, click the button to the right for more info!
2020 Festival Lineup:
Awesome Bands and Artists To Be Announced!!
Full line up coming SOON!
Purchase Tickets HERE
History of Haggard’s Boxcar
Saturday, May 9th, 2020 the Kern County Museum will be presenting the 4th Annual Haggard Boxcar Festival! The Festival is named after the childhood home of Merle Haggard, and of course, in honor of Haggard and all he contributed to Bakersfield and country music!
The history of the boxcar starts in 1935 when the Haggard’s moved to Bakersfield from Oklahoma . They purchased the boxcar as temporary living, until they built a permanent structure on their land. In 1937, Merle Haggard was born and then brought home to the now famous boxcar. In the late1950s they left the boxcar for their new home on the same property.
Over the decades the house became worn and fell into disrepair. In recent years ,a group called, “Citizens Preserving History” raised awareness and money with a “Save Hag’s Boxcar” campaign to move the boxcar here to the Kern County Museum. We give special thanks to the Cynthia Lake Charitable Trust for her generous endowment. Without her and Historical architect George Taylor Louden, we would not be able to enjoy “Hag’s Boxcar” and honor the Country Legend.
Haggard himself, chose the location of his home on the museum’s property, he chose a spot across from the steam engine and Santa Fe caboose. The boxcar was completely reconstructed and renovated with the original wood and opened to the public for tours in April 2016. The very first Haggard Boxcar Music festival was held in honor of Merle, exactly one year from the legendary country singers’ death.
It is truly an honor to have Merle’s childhood home on our property. We will continue to honor him, year after year by showcasing talented country singers from across the country and, of course, right here in Bakersfield.