CRAVEN - If “stay cool” was on everyone's lips during the first days of the Country Thunder Music Festival, “stay dry” was heard on Sunday afternoon, the last day of the festival where several millimetres of rain fell after several days’ heatwave.
Festival-goers did not lack imagination to keep themselves cool. Cold scarves, bottles of water, air-conditioned campers and … inflatable swimming pools.
Country Thunder’s health and safety manager, Belinda Mitchell, was happy with the outcomes. ''We were quite concerned with the heat but to our great astonishment, the number of interventions was much lower than other years, which suggests that the festival-goers and the festival organizers had taken the necessary precautions for the heat,'' she said.
Country fans and music festival enthusiasts came to celebrate from across the country. It was the first experience for Samuel from Manitoba who loved his weekend. “Dallas Smith was great, I was in the golden circle at the top next to the stage but the highlight of the weekend was definitely Nickelback.”
The Zacharias family, fans of the festival for many years, are also fans of Nickelback and wanted to be the first at the opening of the group's merchandise stand and placed themselves in line well before the opening of the stand. “I just wanted to make sure I had the widest choice,” explained the youngest in the family.
Some come mainly to meet other festival-goers. This was the case for Don and Robin who have experienced several editions of the festival. “We love sitting at the camper, listening to music, people-watching and meeting other people. It was a great weekend,” said Robin. Don has been experiencing the festival since its humble beginnings. “I was already coming here when The Big Valley Jamboree was founded by Father Larre,” he recalls. For almost its first 20 years, Big Valley was a charity founded by a priest, Father Lucien Larre, to raise money for his Bosco houses for troubled youth.
With more than 20 shows and various workshops and activities, numerous sellers of western clothing and hats, the country music festival was able to provide festival-goers with an unforgettable weekend.
