Round-up and get down

Country music festival returns to Simi Valley April 18, 2026

By Andra Belknap

Simi Valley’s 11th annual ROUND-UP Country Music Festival returns to Ventura County on Saturday, April 18. Come out for live country music, line dancing, a beer and wine garden, and bounce houses for the kids.

“It’s always been one of our top five biggest events in Simi Valley,” said Anthony Angelini of the Simi Valley Chamber of Commerce. “It’s kind of developed a culture around it — people arranging their weekends and getting their outfits prepared.”

“Country music is a huge genre for Simi Valley,” added event organizer Kathi Van Etten.

The festival is hosted by the Simi Valley Kiwanis Club. “It’s just people volunteering their time to make their community better. We’re not religious, we’re not political. We are just good people who want to make a difference,” Van Etten explained. The ROUND-UP is a fundraiser for the Kiwanis, and proceeds help support local non-profit groups and students in need. “There’s a really great culture of volunteerism here, everybody’s in at least one service club,” Angelini added.

The first ROUND-UP was held in 2013. In the years since, the event has grown. It now attracts up to 5,000 attendees every year, Van Etten said. The inspiration for the first ROUND-UP Country Music Festival, she explained, was born out of her family’s love of country music. The name for the event came to her unexpectedly more than a decade ago, while she was doing her makeup using a “makeup round.”

“I’m like, ‘We’re going to call it Round-Up!’ I went right to my pen and wrote it all down. That’s how it started,” Van Etten recalled. “I remember exactly where I was, looking at those makeup rounds and the words on the wrapper.”

So which musicians should ROUND-UP attendees plan to see in April? The search for a national act to serve as headliner is ongoing, Van Etten disclosed. “I mean, it’s all country, it’s all some classic country, some modern country. Just a mix of everything,” Van Etten added. She also shared that organizers are considering a Johnny Cash tribute for 2026.

In 2023, the ROUND-UP featured Florida country music band Sawyer Brown. The 2025 festival primarily featured local acts, Van Etten said.

What about the opening act for 2026? The Kiwanis Club will host a local “Battle of the County Bands” in early 2026 to find them! Although a hard date hasn’t yet been set, look for it in February at Simi Valley’s Cork & Batter Roadhouse during February.

Though the lineup was still being finalized as of this magazine’s press time, one thing’s for sure: ROUND-UP attendees should definitely plan on dancing. The Ventucky Stompers — a clogging and line dancing group out of Ventura — will be on hand for line-dancing lessons, as they were during the 2025 festival. According to the ROUND-UP website, the 2026 event will feature the festival’s “largest dance floor ever.”

The Ventucky Stompers are led by Crickett Kinser, whose mother, Carole Ester-Hager, started the group back in the 1980s. Back then, though, they were strictly cloggers. Kinser rebranded the group as the Ventucky Stompers in 2016, she shared. Sadly, Ester-Hager passed away in 2025. “Everything I do is to honor her,” Kinser said.

Kinser described the Stompers’ role at the ROUND-UP as similar to the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders during a big game. “You have to hear the song, and within eight counts you have to figure out what dance could fit that. And then you lead the crowd,” she explained.

Line dancing is for all ages, Kinser said. And the Stompers strive to make dancing as accessible as possible.

“The wonderful part about the Stompers is that there are 30 of us, and at any given festival we will have a stomper at each side of the dance floor. So no matter what direction you turn, you have someone to follow,” Kinser explained. “And then we’ll have Stompers sprinkled in through the crowd. So their job is to be warm and inviting and be as helpful as possible.”

Food and beverages (both alcoholic and not) will also be available for purchase. Attendees who are 21 and older can choose between a beer and wine garden or the festival’s “Sassy’s Saloon,” which serves mixed drinks. A “great variety” of food options will be for sale, Van Etten said, including barbecue, baked potatoes, and kettle corn.

Attendees will also have the opportunity to peruse a silent auction while enjoying a day of country music. Auction items will include trips, gifts, wine, and more.

And don’t forget — this is an event the entire family can attend. Children can take advantage of multiple bounce houses and a slide in the event’s free fun zone for kids. 
Kids 12 and under can attend the event free of charge, while general admission tickets are $30.

Folks interested in a heightened festival ROUND-UP experience can purchase VIP tickets for $125. The VIP package includes a catered meal and snacks throughout the day, access to a special seating area near the stage, and two drink tickets for the beer and wine garden. Kids VIP tickets (ages 12 and under) are available for $50.

“It’s one of those things where everybody in town is looking forward to it all weekend, and people are now starting to see it as a destination,” Angelini added.

The 2026 ROUND-UP Country Music Festival will be hosted in Simi Valley’s Rancho Santa Susana Community Park (5005 E. Los Angeles Ave.). Doors will open at 11:30 am. Attendees are encouraged to bring low-back chairs and/or blankets to sit on. Outside beverages, aside from an unopened water bottle, are not allowed. Coolers and outside food are also not permitted. Free event parking will be available at the Metrolink station across from the park (5050 E. Los Angeles Ave.)

Check out roundupsimi.com for more information — including the lineup as we get closer to the big day — as well as to purchase tickets.

Said Van Etten: “It’s just a fun day.”