Schell Raising Comes
To Far Eastern Nevada’s Steptoe Valley
– June 2nd – 5th, 2022 –
WHITE PINE COUNTY, Nevada — Get out your earplugs, music lovers.
Alt-country legends Old 97’s, “Sedona” songsmiths Houndmouth and more than two dozen other bands are coming to Far Eastern Nevada next year for a music festival fundraiser to benefit the nonprofit Nevada Northern Railway (NNRy).
Schellraiser 2022 is set for Thursday, June 2, through Sunday, June 5, at the McGill Pool Park, about 3.5 hours north of St. George and just over three hours from Cedar City. Early-bird four-day festival passes, and individual day tickets are now on sale at www.schellraiser.com/tickets.
BRONCHO and The Dirty River Boys round out the four-day event’s headliners, while Nikki Lane, Shannon Shaw, Starcrawler, The Last Bandoleros, The Cactus Blossoms, and Blue Water Highway are among the festival’s supporting acts.
The expanded lineup also features Whitney Rose, The Paranoyds, Ratboys, Jaime Wyatt, Vandoliers, Black Belt Eagle Scout, Chuck Mead, Moving Panoramas, Federale, Motel Radio and Panda Riot, among others.
“This is my dream lineup,” event organizer, NNRy supporter and McGill resident Rudy Herndon said. “My longtime heroes the Old 97’s were the very first band to commit to this event, and thanks largely to their involvement, everything else fell into place surprisingly well, in spite of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.”
Schellraiser was founded in late 2019 as part of privately funded efforts to help revitalize McGill’s small but historically significant downtown core. Work is slowly but steadily underway to restore the town’s long-abandoned movie theater and Odd Fellows meeting hall, where a new coffeehouse/restaurant and community event center are taking shape.
The festival is also developing the Schellraiser campground in the spectacular Steptoe Valley, just minutes away from the High Schells and Bristlecone wilderness areas near McGill.
Lodging options will range from two shipping container homes with rooftop decks, to fully furnished yurts, bell tents and unfurnished box tents; restrooms and shower trailers will also be available for campground guests. Campground reservations will be available starting in mid-February through the event’s website at schellraiser.com.
For its inaugural festival, the event organizer reached out to the railway to help support its McGill train depot and McGill railroad track restoration projects.
To kick off Schellraiser’s fundraising campaign, the festival donated $25,000 last year to help the railway and its volunteers restore Locomotive 81. It has since chipped in another $5,000 for other railway projects.
“The Nevada Northern Railway is one of the main things that drew me to this area in the first place,” Herndon said. “And I wanted to do my part to help this one-of-a-kind national historic landmark bring about its vision for the future,” Herndon said that festival-goers can help the event maximize its impact by buying tickets and festival passes: All proceeds — after event expenses — will be donated to the railway. Visit www.schellraiser.com for more information.
