Barefoot Country Music Fest 2025 Kicked Off with a Bang… Literally
The Barefoot Country Music Fest officially kicked off yesterday in Wildwood, but Mother Nature decided to make an early appearance—and she didn’t hold back.
The Barefoot Country Music Fest, also known as BCMF is a four-day country music festival held right on the beach here in Wildwood, New Jersey, bringing together some of the biggest names in country music for one massive party by the ocean.
With multiple stages, food and drink vendors, and thousands of fans from across the country, it’s become one of the premier summer festivals on the East Coast.
The Wildwood Video Archive was there on Thursday to film a full tour of the grounds, which you can watch the bottom of this article.
Fans had just started to pour onto the sandy festival grounds, ready to soak in that unbeatable combo of country music and ocean breeze, when the skies turned dark.
Barefoot Country Music Fest 2025 Kicked Off with a Bang… Literally
What started as a few sprinkles quickly escalated into a full-on thunder and lightning storm.
Within minutes, festival organizers made the call to evacuate the beach for everyone’s safety.
It was a tough moment, especially for those who had traveled in from out of town, decked out in cowboy boots and country gear.
Security and staff worked quickly to direct thousands of fans off the beach and toward safer ground as lightning lit up the Wildwood sky.
Thank you to the BCMF crew and our police for getting us out of there quite quickly in time for the skies to open up.
After a few hours of rain and weather delays, the clouds finally cleared—and the energy came roaring back.
Fans were allowed back into the festival grounds, and it was like the storm had never happened. The sand may have been a little soggy, but spirits were anything but damp.
Artists didn’t miss a beat, either. Megan Moroney quickly took to the stage to kick the night off as Rascal Flatts closed out the night playing their hit song, “Life Is A Highway.”
While we thought the rain could have cancelled the fireworks, we were quick to find that at 12:30AM they went off!
With sunshine in the forecast and major acts like Lainey Wilson, Jason Aldean, and Jelly Roll still to come, 2025’s Barefoot Country Music Fest is shaping up to be one for the books.
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So, if you got caught in the rain—don’t sweat it. You weren’t alone. And if you stuck around afterward, you already know: around here, nothing stops the music in Wildwood.
Below is our tour of the Barefoot Country Music Fest grounds, and our experience of getting evacuated from the beach. Before you watch please consider subscribing to our Youtube channel.