Can’t wait for CCMF? This concert can serve as an appetizer for the main event in June

Put on your cowboy boots and get ready to dance.

Though the fifth annual Carolina Country Music Fest is a few months away, there is another event Saturday that presents a similar — yet smaller — ambiance.

The second Wahoo’s Country Fest will take place at Wahoo’s Fish House on the Marshwalk in Murrells Inlet on Saturday. The first such event was held in August.

“There’s never been any type of country fest on the Marshwalk, so I wanted to do something different and get some local talent in there,” said Tony Jarvis, a bartender at Wahoo’s who also coordinates entertainment and events there.

The lineup includes Will Ness of Pawleys Island, Nashville, Tennessee native Billy King of Myrtle Beach, the Gary Alexander Band of Myrtle Beach, the Mikele Buck Band of Greenville, N.C., whose namesake was on the 2018 season of “The Voice,” and the Josh Brannon Band of Murrells Inlet.

“At the end of the day it’s just all about bringing great entertainment down to the Marshwalk for everyone to hear,” said Jarvis, a Socastee High School graduate.

Jarvis said he came up with the idea for the event last year after seeing the success of the Carolina Country Music Fest, which has been held annually in Myrtle Beach since 2015 and presents big-name artists while drawing large crowds to the area. His goal was to put on a smaller, more local version of the festival.

“The first one was a great turnout. It was the first one so we really didn’t know what to expect,” Jarvis said. “ I think this one is going to be a lot better for the fact it is going to be on a Saturday. We did it on a Friday last year. It had a little later jump. This year it’s Saturday and I think not a lot of people will be working.”

The Wahoo’s Country Fest begins at 3 p.m., with each artist performing for and hour and a half, and the performances conclude around 11:30 p.m. Jarvis said the first event drew the bar’s regulars, folks from surrounding areas and tourists.

“They need to bring their cowboy, cowgirl boots. There’s going to be a lot of dancing,” Jarvis said. “There’s going to be great drinks. We’re going to have extra beer tubs set up. There’s going to be fresh pulled-pork barbecue plates on the deck at Bovines.”

The event overall is free of charge. The barbecue plates will be $8.