The Chandler Chamber Ostrich Festival ushered in an early start to the Arizona summer with one final weekend at Rawhide Western Town and Event Center last week. The carnival rides were back, along with a wide assortment of food, family activities and three days of music. The beats were bumping for Vanilla Ice and Baby Bash as they closed out the 36th annual Chandler event.
Fans attempted to beat the heat on Friday night with Vanilla Ice’s 90’s celebration on the main stage. The rapper brought his entourage- including a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle- to cool off the crowd as he ran through all the hits. Those in the audience with the best and brightest outfits were even invited onstage to dance with Vanilla Ice during “Ice Ice Baby” and more and the fans were over the moon to be included in the show. He ended the short but memorable set by jumping onto the barricade and taking selfies with the fans, all while singing “No Woman, No Cry” to round out the final Friday of the fest.
Sunday night brought one of the largest crowds of the event to the main stage for Baby Bash’s return to Arizona. Early 2000s radio waves were dominated by Baby Bash’s nonstop onslaught of hits and he brought every single one to an eager audience at Rawhide. From “Baby, I’m Back” to “Cyclone”, the fans knew every word and gave Baby Bash all of their energy despite the late hour and the looming work week ahead. With the carnival lights still flashing in the distance, Baby Bash rolled out with “Suga Suga” and concluded another excellent year of the Ostrich Festival. The party went on for two weekends and brought all of the nostalgic energy to its new home so Chandler can once again look forward to another year of fun in 2027.
