BENTON, Ark. — Before thousands gather for worship and live music this weekend, the Saline County Fairgrounds look more like a construction zone than a concert venue.
Volunteers haul supplies across gravel lots, set up fencing, unload equipment and prepare stages under the Arkansas sun. Their work often goes unnoticed by the crowds who fill the fairgrounds each year, but organizers say Amplify simply wouldn’t happen without them.
The nation’s largest free Christian music festival returns to Benton June 12-13, bringing nationally known artists including Phil Wickham, Anne Wilson, Ben Fuller, Hulvey and Micah Tyler to central Arkansas. Organizers expect thousands of people to attend, but behind the music is a volunteer force of hundreds working long before the gates ever open…