Ted Gocke

To all those people who said they loved JFest but thought it was too hot, festival officials have heard you.

The 11th annual Christian music festival, previously held outdoors at Camp Jordan in East Ridge, has been moved to Abba’s House in Hixson. There, on Saturday, it will have both indoor and outdoor components.

“By and large,” said Ted Gocke, director of development for sponsoring radio station J103, people in exit surveys on how to improve JFest said, “it’s just too hot.”

The festival in the 3,600-seat auditorium will feature contemporary Christian bands such as headliner Salvador as well as Building 429, FFH, Francesca Battistelli, Mark Harris and John Waller.

Tickets to the indoor venue are sold out, but admission to the outdoor venue is still available.

“So far, everybody is accepting us with open arms,” Gocke said. “I am kind of surprised” it sold out so quickly, “but we didn’t know what to expect.”

The outdoor tickets, he said, will allow attendance at the outdoor stage, which will host regional artists such as Tabernacle, The Birdsongs, Chelsie Boyd, Eight Days After and They Came Running.

The headliner artists also will do mini-sets on the outdoor stage, and their indoor set will be able to be heard through powerful, 360-degree speakers.

Strength demonstrating Team Impact, car hurdler Jeff Clay and illusionist Tom Coverly also will perform outside, where vending and the festival’s popular Kidsworld will be located.

JFest officials said the event serves three main purposes: “to evangelize; to bring clean, wholesome entertainment for families; and to raise much-needed funds to keep (radio station J103) going strong during the summer months.”

Gocke said the event’s previous Camp Jordan venue was “fantastic,” and event officials wouldn’t mind returning there.

However, he said, officials prayed about moving JFest and felt “God was leading us to strike out and experiment with” a new format.

IF YOU GO

What: JFest.

When: 8 a.m.-7:30 p.m. Saturday (end time is approximate).

Where: Abba’s House, 5208 Hixson Pike.

Admission: $5 (outside venue only), free for children ages 10 and younger (with paid adult); $5 wristband pass for inflatable games.

n Phone: 892-1200 or 877-262-5103.