The main attractions of the festival are the multiple stages of live music, featuring a mixture of country music superstars, newcomers and local country performers.
The inaugural festival was produced by Brian O'Connell, president of Live Nation's country division and six-time winner of the Country Music Association award for 'Promoter of the Year'.
[2] When discussing the festival to Billboard Magazine, O'Connell said: "Watershed is an idea that we have been kicking around for a number of years.
The Pacific Northwest is a real special place in our country.
I've been doing shows up there at the Gorge for years, and Jeff Trisler, my partner at Live Nation and I got to talking about it, and we finally made the call six to eight months ago.