A Christian music festival in northwest Iowa has eclipsed the attendance record set over a century ago by the KKK.
Rob Roozeboom, founder and CEO of Rise Ministries, said this weekend’s “RiseFest” in Sheldon drew a record crowd. “To see 30,100 people over two days, I’m still processing it all,” Roozeboom said. “I’m not sure it’s sunk in yet.”
In 1924, a local newspaper reported 25,000 people had turned out for a three-day KKK rally in Sheldon. “We’ve wanted to erase this record of darkness and division for so long,” Roozeboom said. “…What melts me the most is not just to break it, but God led us to really crush it.”
This was the 20th annual “RiseFest” and it featured performances from Josiah Queen and Ben Fuller, both of whom will be performing at the Iowa State Fair in August. Another “RiseFest” artist, Phil Wickham, has 4.7 million monthly listeners on Spotify.
(By Carson Schubert, KSOU, Sioux Center)