Rock the Locks Music Festival 2025

The third year of our Rock the Locks (RTL) Music Festival is scheduled for September 26th-28th, 2025, at the Big River Golf Course in Umatilla, Oregon.  

We continue providing updates for the 2025 Rock the Locks Music Festival, building on the momentum from 2024. This page will be regularly updated to inform the Umatilla community about upcoming meetings, traffic plans, and other essential festival details. For information on bands, volunteer opportunities, tickets, and camping, be sure to visit RocktheLocks.org.

2025 Community Member Sound Mitigation Information:

To sign up for the RTL Community Update email list, click here.

To view the latest 2024 update or any previous updates, please click here.

March 19th, 2025 Update: 

The Rock the Locks (RTL) music festival, created by the City of Umatilla and partners, brings fun and vibrancy to Umatilla, has demonstrated an increase in attendance and revenue growth, and provides meaningful support for local and regional businesses. The festival's fiscal sustainability and sound mitigation for neighbors, however, remain topics for continued work. Now in 2025, the City anticipates another great year of the festival and will also determine the best path forward for the RTL festival and the community. City Council met on March 4 to begin these discussions. View the March 4 City Council Meeting [Item 10].

The team at Jensen Strategies continues supporting communication between the City and community about Rock the Locks. This email serves to provide a summary of the recent Council meeting and an opportunity to mark your calendars to participate in the process of determining the festival’s future.

Summary: Rock the Locks topics at the March 4, 2025 Council Meeting

• Considering the festival’s future: City Council considered what criteria they could use to decide if and how the festival may continue in the future. These included:
  • Fiscal responsibilities (local and regional economic benefits, level of City support, cost recovery, return on investment)
  • Community impacts (neighbor sound mitigation, community livability, community benefit)
  • Timeframes for a potential festival extension (end after 2025 or continue for 1, 2 or 3 years longer)

• Engagement of neighbors and community: Council emphasized the need to hear directly from the Umatilla community to make the best decisions about the 2025 event and the festival’s future. Community engagement opportunities will include: (see meeting details in the Be Involved section below)
  • Community Town Hall
  • Neighborhood Meeting
  • Citywide Survey
  • Council Meeting testimony (written and verbal)

• Budget: To prepare for the possibility that the festival will continue in 2026, Council discussed the option of including funds for the festival in the next budget. Should the decision be made to stop the festival after 2025, Council would decide how to use these funds for other City business in accordance with Oregon budget law. As a reminder, everyone is welcome and encouraged to provide their input on the City’s full budget. City Council will hold a Budget Hearing on April 15 and expects to make final budget decisions at the June 3 City Council meeting. You can always provide input to the City by clicking here or visiting https://www.umatilla.gov/contact.

Be involved: How to share your thoughts about the future of the festival

Mark your calendars and be on the lookout. The City is arranging for engagement opportunities to ensure they hear your input, whether about sound mitigation, budgetary considerations, or the future of the festival. Stay tuned for updates and more information.

Community-Wide Engagement Opportunities

• Community Survey – April 8-28, 2025
• Community Town Hall – April 16, 2025, 7-8pm

McNary Neighbor Engagement Opportunities

• McNary Neighbor Meeting – April 10, 2025, 7-8pm
• McNary Neighbor Survey – April 10-24, 2025

Council Meetings and Decisions

• Council Work Session: Engagement Results – June 17 (tentative)
  • Listen in to learn what your fellow community members are saying
• Council Business Meeting: Rock the Locks Decision  – July 15 (tentative)
  • Submit your written testimony up to two weeks in advance (July 1, tentative) and/or sign up to testify in person. Additional submission instructions will be provided as needed closer to the meeting.

Thank you for your interest and involvement in Rock the Locks. We look forward to sharing more information about engagement opportunities soon. In the meantime, should you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact jessenia.carrillo@umatilla.gov.

February 19th, 2025 Update: 

City staff presented a Rock the Locks (RTL) 2024 Post-Event Report to City Council on December 3, 2024.  The festival was successful in many areas, including increased attendance, revenue growth, and a positive economic impact in the region.  Further work to improve the festival’s fiscal sustainability and sound mitigation has been identified as a priority for 2025.  Please find more information in a recent email update to festival neighbors here Rock the Locks Music Festival 2025.

We welcome feedback on noise management and any suggestions you may have for RTL 2025.  Please feel free to share your thoughts by emailing us by March 14, 2025 at recreation@umatilla.gov.

Plans are also in the works for a neighbor meeting in April to discuss sound mitigation plans for RTL 2025 and how the community can share input on future RTL plans. Please stay tuned for more information from email or web update about that meeting.