Next summer, the VOA Country Music Festival will have a new venue for concertgoers to attend. It's moving from West Chester Township to the Butler County Fairgrounds.The 3-day event, going into its fifth year, is scheduled for A ug. 5-7, 2027.President of Further Concepts and Investors and the founder of the Voices of American Country Music Festival, Tyler Wogenstahl, announced the move Friday alongside Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones, Prosecutor Mike Gmoser, Commissioner Don Dixon, Hamilton City Manager Craig Bucheit and fairgrounds officials.This festival was built in Butler County, and its future is in Butler County, Wogenstahl said. It belongs to the fans, artists, employees, vendors, sponsors and community partners who have helped build it. Our responsibility now is to take VOA somewhere it is welcomed, supported and given the opportunity to grow.According to event organizers, the new venue will allow fans to camp on-site for the first time and provide more space and improved accommodations. Organizers also said they will expand the festivals Loyalty Presale, giving previous ticket buyers early access to tickets.Butler County Fairgrounds told WCPO that negotiations to bring the festival over were quick, lasting about eight days. The fairgrounds said it signed a contract with Further Festivals, but it hasn't released the details.Dixon said the county is not financing the festival but supports events that attract visitors and generate revenue. He said money the fairgrounds earns could eventually help renovate its aging facilities.This is just the beginning, Dixon said. You will not recognize that facility in a few short years.Jones said the fairgrounds will not need renovations to host the 2027 festival. Officials are still developing plans for parking and traffic around the property, portions of which are in Hamilton and Fairfield Township.The fairgrounds draw at least 12,000 people during some Butler County Fair events, Jones said. Organizers plan to use nearby parking areas, including school properties, and expect many festivalgoers to carpool.Its a work in progress, but we host the fair every year, Bucheit said. Were confident that well be able to manage the traffic around this event as well.The move is not without controversy.It comes as officials in West Chester Township, where the festival has been held since its inception, have claimed that the event organizers have not paid their bills, prompting the township to withdraw support and no longer host the event. Specifically, the township said the festival was late on bills in 2024 and 2025 for public safety costs, which forced local officials to involve legal counsel to get paid."Further Festivals creates financial risk for the Township by not paying bills on time, failing to meet contractual obligations, and failing to repair and remediate public property wholly and in a timely manner," the township said in a statement last week. "For these reasons, the VOA Country Music Festival is no longer viable or in the best interest of West Chester taxpayers."Records obtained by WCPO show the relationship had become increasingly strained.In a March 19 breach notice, West Chesters law director accused Further Festivals of failing to pay bills on time after both the 2024 and 2025 events. The township said it had to involve attorneys to secure the 2024 payment and demanded payment of an outstanding $19,274.21 balance from the 2025 festival.Further Festivals disputed portions of that bill, arguing in emails that some charges did not reflect the resources actually used and that certain equipment costs were inflated. Township Administrator Lisa Brown responded that the charges represented taxpayer-funded personnel, equipment and other resources deployed under the festivals approved public-safety plan.On April 15, Brown told Wogenstahl the payment was 27 days late and warned that the township would terminate the agreement if it was not received by 4 p.m. that day. Records show Wogenstahl delivered a cashiers check, and Brown confirmed receiving the full payment.The township then required Further Festivals to prepay portions of its estimated 2026 public-safety costs. Under the final agreement, the company was responsible for the first $200,000 in costs and any amount above $275,000. Further Festivals total obligation was capped at $247,002.10, excluding possible fees if the festival ran past its permitted closing time.The agreement required two $50,000 advance payments. Township records show the second payment, due July 31, was received Aug. 3.Wogenstahl said Friday that the privately financed festival has cost organizers $24 million over four years.Its a big number," Wogenstahl said. "It costs a lot to build these things, and our goal is to build this in Butler County for the next 10 years to come.Jones defended Wogenstahl and accused West Chester officials of opposing the festival from the beginning. He also claimed the township had not yet paid some sheriffs employees for their work at the most recent festival.West Chester records show the township received a $200,000 state grant in March to reimburse public-safety expenses from the 2025 event. A township accounting document allocated more than $16,000 of that funding to the Butler County Sheriffs Office. WCPO has asked the township to clarify the status of any remaining payments.West Chesters concerns extended beyond billing. A March 2025 township presentation documented events running beyond permitted times, pedestrian-safety concerns, traffic congestion, rideshare vehicles stopping in the VOA Shopping Center and festivalgoers using private parking lots without permission. Township officials also said the event affected nearby residents and businesses and created public-safety costs not included in earlier agreements.Officials supporting the move argue the festival produces a significant economic benefit. Gmoser said visitors struggled to find hotel rooms during festival weekends, while Bucheit predicted the new location would benefit Hamilton-area hotels, restaurants and small businesses.Regional hotel data reviewed by WCPO, however, presents a more complicated picture.A report covering hotels in West Chester, Liberty Township and Fairfield showed occupancy during the festivals Friday and Saturday dates was 67.3% and 76.5% in 2023. In 2024, those rates fell to 54.6% and 63.2%. Both years Saturday occupancy was below the 89.4% recorded during the comparable weekend in 2022, before the festival began.During the 2026 festival week, occupancy across the reporting area was 66.2% Thursday, 64.8% Friday and 66% Saturday, according to a separate report. Each figure was more than 18 percentage points below the comparable day in 2025. The hotel data covers 29 properties and about 95% of the areas rooms, but it does not measure spending at restaurants, retailers or other businesses.RELATED: West Chester Township officials allege VOA Country Music Festival organizers repeatedly forgot to pay billsThe festival debuted in 2023, when around 80,000 country music fans packed the Voice of America MetroPark. The event was even more popular in its second year, with more than 100,000 attending to see more than 30 artists perform throughout the day. According to festival organizers, the VOA Country Music Festival brought more than 100,000 people to Southwest Ohio for its festivities in 2025, when headliners were Carrie Underwood, HARDY, Bailey Zimmerman and Darius Rucker.WATCH: VOA Country Music Festival will not return to West Chester after 2026RELATED: VOA Country Music Festival will not return to West Chester after 2026 ...read more read less