Campground volunteers, municipal officials and those who worshiped under the sun and stars at the nation’s largest Christian music event were taken aback Monday when organizers announced Creation Fest has reached the end of its 44-year run.
Held each summer at the Agape Farm amid the mountains and hillsides of southern Huntingdon County, Creation attracted tens of thousands of spectators each year and drew some of the biggest names in Christian music to its main stage.
Danny McKeehan, vice president of Jesus Ministries’ board of directors and a Shirley Township Supervisor, which leased out the Agape Farm to Creation, said the ministry was “caught off guard” by Monday’s announcement.
“We anticipated this might have been the last year,” McKeehan said. “But we did expect (the festival) to happen (this year).”
The announcement, posted on Creation’s website and Facebook page, says, “Due to many factors, we as a leadership team have decided that this chapter in the life of Creation Fest has come to a close. We are saddened but also hopeful for what God has in store for what’s next.”
During its 44 years, Creation saw 115,000 people find faith, 16,000 people baptized and 2.1 million attendees, according to the announcement.
Prior to Monday’s news, Creation unveiled a partial lineup of summer 2023 acts, including Switchfoot, a rock band that made a mainstream shift in 2003.
Creation was occasionally preempted by weather events — like in 1995 when heavy rains turned the campground into a quagmire — and more recently by the COVID-19 pandemic. The show was canceled in 2020 and 2021 but made a comeback last summer.
Shirley Township handled a lot of the Creation traffic over the years as the campground’s main gate at sits off Keystone Road. Most of the campground is situated within Cromwell Township.
“We’re kinda floored, like everyone else,” Kathy Varner, Shirley Township secretary said when asked about Monday’s announcement.
Shirley Township chairman Gary Frehn said in the early days of the festival, Creation dollars flowed into the local economy and traffic ground to a halt as music fans drove in from all compass points.
“In the early years, they were buying stuff at the stores … Sundays, in Shirleysburg, when they would leave, you couldn’t get in or out of town,” he said.
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