Country singer Scotty McCreery will perform at the Carnaval ME winter festival in Portland next month.

McCreery will appear on the festival’s stage on the Eastern Promenade on Feb. 26, Shamrock Sports and Entertainment, the event organizer, announced Wednesday.

McCreery first gained national recognition by winning the music competition show “American Idol” in 2011. The 10-day festival’s slate of entertainment will kick off Feb. 18 with a show by Maine-based band The Ghost of Paul Revere.

Other local and regional performers scheduled to play during the festival include Motor Booty Affair, rePercussion, Time Pilots, Girls Just Want to Have Fun, Pete Kilpatrick Band, Hello Newman, Jason Spooner Band, VIVA and the Reinforcements, Maine Academy of Modern Music, Maddy’s Theatre and Firefly of Penobscot Nation. Concerts will start at 7 p.m. and end at 9:30 p.m., according to Carnaval ME organizers.

Proof of vaccination or a recent negative test is required at the festival entrance, according to the Carnaval ME website. General admission is $15 while Bites and Brews tickets, pairing local chefs’ creation with local craft beer, are $65.

Carnaval ME is scheduled for Feb. 17-26 and will feature food, craft beers, ice sculpting, skiing and snowboarding demonstrations, train rides and entertainment. Portland city councilors unanimously approved an order setting the festival dates and reserving the site at their Oct. 4 meeting.

This will be the second Carnaval ME and will be a considerable expansion over the two-day event held on the Eastern Promenade the last weekend of January 2020. The event will be held mostly outdoors and is expected to draw 25,000 people during its run, according to the proposal presented to the city

A large inflatable igloo structure for food and beer events – called Bites and Brews – will be set up in a parking lot on Cutter Street, which leads down from the Eastern Promenade to Casco Bay. For more information and tickets, go to carnavalme.com. 


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