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LifeLight Music Festival facts for kids

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LifeLight Festival
Lifelight logo.png
Official logo for LifeLight
Genre Christian rock
Dates Labor Day weekend
Location(s) Sioux Falls, South Dakota (1998–2009)
Worthing, South Dakota (2010–2019, 2021–)
Years active 1998–2019, 2021–
Founded by Alan and Vicki Greene
Website LifeLight's Official website: http://www.lifelight.org/

The LifeLight Festival was a yearly outdoor music event. It was a free festival that featured Christian music. It happened every year during the Labor Day weekend on a farm near Worthing, South Dakota. This town is about 12 miles south of Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

History of LifeLight Festival

The LifeLight Festival began in 1998. It was started by Alan and Vicki Greene. Their first event was a small afternoon concert on a church lawn. About 2,000 people came to this first show.

By 2001, the festival had grown a lot. It moved to the W.H. Lyons Fairgrounds in Sioux Falls, South Dakota to fit more people. In 2002, the number of attendees tripled! It grew to 32,000 people over a three-day weekend.

The festival kept growing. It eventually hosted over 320,000 people during a three-day weekend. It also expanded to have six different stages for performers. The festival's yearly budget was almost $700,000.

Because it needed even more space, the LifeLight Festival found a new, permanent home in 2010. This new location was on a family farm near Worthing, South Dakota. Even though the concert was free, it helped the local economy. Festivals like this one could bring in up to $10 million for the Sioux Falls area.

Since 2005, LifeLight also organized spring and fall tours. These tours featured artists who had performed at the festival. At first, these were local tours with local artists. But over time, LifeLight Tours worked with bigger national and regional bands and speakers. They traveled to many states, including Texas, Illinois, Nebraska, Colorado, Minnesota, Iowa, and South Dakota. Some artists who joined these tours included John Reuben, Brian Welch, and Sanctus Real.

The festival did not take place in 2020.

Festival Attendance Over the Years

  • 1998: 1,500 people
  • 1999: 4,000 people
  • 2000: 6,500 people
  • 2001: 10,000 people
  • 2002: 32,000 people
  • 2003: 110,000 people
  • 2004: 240,000 people
  • 2005: 275,000 people
  • 2006: 263,000 people
  • 2007: 320,000 people
  • 2008: 320,000 people
  • 2009: 270,000 people
  • 2010: 320,000 people

Featured Artists at LifeLight

Many Christian music artists performed at the LifeLight Festival over the years. Here are some of the bands and singers who played at different festivals:

Artists at the 2013 Festival

  • Newsboys
  • Skillet
  • Audio Adrenaline
  • Plumb
  • For Today
  • Flyleaf
  • Building 429
  • Fireflight
  • Children 18:3
  • Disciple
  • Aaron Gillespie
  • The City Harmonic
  • John Reuben
  • The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
  • Levi the Poet
  • Rhett Walker Band
  • We Are Leo
  • Phinehas
  • Unarmed For Victory
  • At The Wayside
  • One Accord
  • Sean Michel
  • Ravenhill
  • Spencer Kane
  • From The Eyes of Servants
  • Love Out Loud
  • Je'kob
  • Shuree
  • Lybecker
  • Tru Serva
  • Double Vision
  • Grant Lockner
  • Rapture Ruckus

Artists at the 2012 Festival

  • Skillet
  • Tenth Avenue North
  • Peter Furler
  • Five Iron Frenzy
  • House of Heroes
  • Sanctus Real
  • Leeland
  • Mandisa
  • Christy Nockels
  • Downhere
  • Run Kid Run
  • The City Harmonic
  • Remedy Drive
  • Becoming the Archetype
  • Andy Mineo
  • Aaron Gillespie
  • Everyday Sunday
  • Abandon Kansas
  • Sleeping Giant
  • KB
  • John Rueben
  • The Wedding
  • Wolves at the Gate
  • Children 18:3
  • Jenny & Tyler
  • Write This Down
  • Love & Death
  • One Sonic Society
  • These Hearts
  • Matt Hammitt
  • GoFish
  • Silverline
  • Stephanie Smith
  • Kiros
  • Everfound
  • Fades Away
  • We Are Leo
  • Ilia
  • Willet
  • An Epic No Less
  • George Moss
  • The Skies Revolt
  • Loftland
  • Classic Petra
  • Broken Walls
  • Marah in the Mainsail
  • Triple Stitch
  • Brandon Reid
  • Alan Greene
  • Rachelle Hope
  • Brian Sumner
  • Tom Henderson
  • Josh Brewer

Artists at the 2011 Festival

  • Relient K
  • Tenth Avenue North
  • Jeremy Camp
  • Sidewalk Prophets
  • Britt Nicole
  • Manafest
  • Hawk Nelson
  • Fireflight
  • Manic Drive
  • Disciple
  • Blindside
  • Write This Down
  • Children 18:3
  • The Wedding

Artists at the 2010 Festival

  • MercyMe
  • David Crowder Band
  • Family Force 5
  • BarlowGirl
  • Brian "Head" Welch
  • Children 18:3
  • Disciple
  • John Reuben
  • Kari Jobe
  • Abandon
  • Colossus
  • Day of Fire
  • Eric Timm
  • Everyday Sunday
  • From The Eyes Of Servants
  • House of Heroes
  • John Mark McMillan
  • Mikeschair
  • Parachute Band
  • Reilly
  • Seabird
  • Showbread
  • Silverline
  • Spoken
  • These Hearts
  • The Overseer
  • Triple Stitch and More
  • White Collar Sideshow
  • Willet
  • Write This Down

Artists at the 2009 Festival

  • Newsboys
  • Kutless
  • Thousand Foot Krutch
  • Tenth Avenue North
  • Family Force 5
  • Disciple
  • Superchick
  • Stellar Kart
  • Sanctus Real
  • Seventh Day Slumber
  • Showbread
  • Spoken
  • The Wedding
  • VOTA
  • Children 18:3
  • DecembeRadio
  • Downhere
  • Everyday Sunday
  • Everfound
  • FM Static
  • House of Heroes
  • John Reuben
  • Krystal Meyers
  • Lincoln Brewster
  • Manic Drive
  • Michael Gungor Band
  • Nevertheless
  • Remedy Drive
  • Run Kid Run
  • Rush of Fools
  • Sarah Reeves
  • Silverline
  • The Switch Kids
  • TruEmotion
  • WILLET
  • A Life Echoed
  • David Lunsford
  • Esterlyn (band)
  • Life's Breath

Artists at the 2008 Festival

Artists at the 2007 Festival

  • Jars of Clay
  • TobyMac
  • Chris Tomlin
  • Anberlin
  • BarlowGirl
  • Big Daddy Weave
  • Casting Pearls
  • Family Force 5
  • Leeland
  • Tait
  • Phil Joel
  • Project 86
  • Stellar Kart

Other Past Performers

Many other artists have performed at LifeLight over the years, including:

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