Joe Nichols, Colby Dee to perform at Warner Robins Independence Day event

Joe Nichols and Colby Dee will perform at the annual Independence Day celebration in Warner Robins, Mayor Randy Toms announced Tuesday.

After being held at the Museum of Aviation last year, the event is moving back to McConnell-Talbert Stadium, but the concert won’t be inside the stadium as it was previously because the football field has some expensive new turf that the concert could damage.

Instead, the event will be in the stadium parking lot this year. But the good news, Toms said, is that no one will need a ticket.

Consideration was given to keeping the concert at the museum, but that would have meant limiting the crowd.

“We just decided we wanted to try to find a venue that is accessible to everyone,” he said. “One of the driving factors was not to have to do tickets again. That seemed to be the only stumbling block from last year ... that some people didn’t get in to see the show.”

The celebration will be held July 1, which is a Friday. The concert is followed by a fireworks show.

Nichols is a Grammy-winning country music singer who has racked up 14 Top 40 songs, including “Brokenheartsville,” “Gimmie That Girl” and “Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off.” Six of his songs have hit No. 1.

Colby Dee is from Warner Robins, and Toms said she now travels North America performing.

The celebration is in its 34th year and has traditionally been held at McConnell-Talbert Stadium. Last year the stadium was having new turf installed, so the event had to be held at the Museum of Aviation. Because of the space there, a limited number of tickets were issued, although the concert was still free.

Due to the fact that the concert will be in the parking lot this year, Toms said efforts are being made to secure additional parking.

Last year the event’s featured performer was Darius Rucker, one of the biggest stars ever to perform at the event. When the decision was made to issue tickets and limit it to 15,000 people, all of them were snapped up within two days after becoming available.

This story was originally published April 19, 2016 at 2:20 PM with the headline "Joe Nichols, Colby Dee to perform at Warner Robins Independence Day event."