Country music fans return to Craven for first time in three years

After a three-year wait, Country Thunder is back in Craven.

The festival has been a staple in Craven for decades and brings together country music fans from across the province for four days of fun.

Country Thunder was cancelled in each of 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19, but has returned in ’22.

On Tuesday morning, about 30 eager country music fans got their chance to pick their campsite for the next few nights.

Albert Fandrick says he was so excited to get through the gates that he started waiting Sunday.

“I’m always used to coming in on Sundays. They usually have the gate open on Sundays or I get in the gate early Monday morning,” he explained. “Last time I was here at Country Thunder, I was No. 1 over the bridge. That’s why I try to get here as early as I can.”

Fandrick said he has been coming to the festival for decades and mentioned he can’t wait to see all of the top country artists, including Blake Shelton.

Crystal White was another fan waiting in line to secure her camping spot for the week. White mentioned she has never missed a single edition of the festival in her lifetime.

“We came the very first year and never missed it, so we’re here every year,” she said.

White arrived at the festival grounds just after 8 a.m., so she could get her spot and avoid larger crowds on Wednesday and Thursday.

While it will be hot outside, White suggests the best game plan for the festival is to go at your pace.

“I’ve been here before, so you’ve just got to go with the flow and have some fun,” she added.

She mentioned the festival has almost become an unofficial family reunion for her and her husband.

“All the people who camp around us, we all know them now,” she said. “We have friends, (we) visit and it’s very good.”

Kim Blevins is the general manager of Country Thunder. She’s originally from Saskatchewan and is in charge of the seven events the company puts on throughout North America.

Blevins says she’s is excited to be helping put on a show in her home province again.

“This one is still home,” she said. “All of us who organize the seven Country Thunders are originally from (Saskatchewan). It’s cool to be back here (and) cool to be on this site because this is where it first began.”

According to Blevins, work has been underway for months to get the site back up to good standing after it was mostly abandoned since 2019 because of the pandemic.

“The old girl hasn’t had a lot of love in the last two years, but it’s coming together,” she said. “People are going to be really pleased when they come here and we’re getting ready for gates opening.”

While setup for the big show has gone smoothly, Blevins mentioned there have been a couple of bumps in the process.

“It’s like everyone else these days. Everyone is facing fuel costs, labour shortages and equipment shortages. The list goes on and on,” she said. “We’ve been facing those as well.

“But we’ve got some pretty resourceful people on our team and they’ve been successful in getting what we need to get this event going again. (The delays affecting) Air Canada, that crisis has been affecting us a little bit and getting people here, but they’re getting here eventually.”

Blevins couldn’t say how many people would be attending this weekend as ticket sales are still going, but she thinks there will be some big crowds considering the lineup the festival has put together.

The festival runs through Sunday night.