Record crowd expected at Winterfest; tickets close to selling out

Liberty University’s Winterfest draws thousands of students, church groups and youth pastors to the campus every New Year’s. But this year the two-day festival, which combines a host of acclaimed Christian musical artists, speakers and entertainers, will feature a record crowd — with close to 7,000 tickets sold so far.

Luke Enns, with Enrollment Management at LU, which is helping to coordinate Winterfest, said the record stood at 6,759 tickets sold in 2006.

“Without a doubt this will be the largest Winterfest crowd in the event’s eight-year history,” he said Tuesday. “We are within a few hundred tickets this year of actually selling out at the Vines Center.” Capacity is 7,400.

Enns said the draw is definitely the lineup of today’s top Christian music artists, speakers and performers.

“This year we have one of the biggest acts in both Christian and secular music. Switchfoot has been at the top of the iTunes charts this fall playing on Apple iPod commercials, Jimmy Kimmel, Conan O’Brien, and ESPN with their new album, ‘Hello Hurricane,’” he said.

Other musical guests include Skillet, MercyMe, Barlow Girl and Thousand Foot Krutch. Speakers are Matt Pitt and David Nasser, along with emcee Clayton King. There will be performances by skateboarding pro Tim Byrne and variety entertainer Mark Lippard.

Winterfest, held Dec. 30 and 31, is a great way of sharing the message of Jesus Christ and challenging youth in their faith while ringing in the New Year, Enns said.

Attendees come from all over the U.S. and in groups numbering more than 100. This year there are groups coming from as far away as Florida and Southern California.

For more information or to register, visit www.libertywinterfest.com or call (800) 965-9324.