Countryfest sees big names, bright sunshine

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/07/2011 (5465 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

 

One of the biggest positives about this year’s Countryfest was also people’s biggest complaint: it was hot.

But the warm temperatures were just what the doctor ordered for those who have been enduring the hardships of flooding for many weeks now. Countryfest was an opportunity to forget about sandbagging and enjoy some amazing entertainment over the four-day event.

Not only was it hot, but for the first time in years there was absolutely no rain or hail. And the music was pretty pleasing, too. Especially a performance by Oklahoma native Toby Keith, who headlined Saturday night’s main stage.

“I didn’t know what to expect from the Canadian crowd with Toby’s strong patriotism, but I was pleasantly surprised,” said new Dauphin resident Tammy Pernarowski, who moved here from Alaska. Her friend Tiffany Capen, who still resides in Fairbanks, Alaska said her favourite shows so far were “a toss-up between Toby Keith and Johnny Reid.”

Reid headlined an all Canadian line-up on Canada Day and wowed the audience with a run through the sold-out crowd of 13,000 festival goers shaking hands and high-fiving. When he noticed a bevy of young females in a hot tub next to the stage he went so far as to remove his pants to reveal a pair of black swim trunks and jumped in before finishing his show to a roar of appreciation.

Manitoba’s Doc Walker headlined the event for the first time on Thursday night. Other musical highlights were Eric Church, whose rock and roll fueled performance was even stronger than Keith’s, some fans felt. As well, Saskatoon’s Sheepdogs showed the crowd why they should be the winners of a Rolling Stone magazine contest to grace the cover of the legendary publication in August.

Others hung out on Saturday night to see legendary Scottish classic rockers Nazareth perform. The Sunday night stage was graced with Dean Brody and Joe Nichols with Billy Currington also slated take the stage.

“It was a great weekend because people from all over Western Canada flock here to see some really, really great music from something like 62 bands playing country, roots, rock ‘n’ roll, blues and even some bluegrass thrown in,” Countryfest president Eric Irwin said, adding the Countryfest board is planning even more improvements to the site for next year.

“As far as next year’s concerned, we actually had engineers out to look at building a permanent roof over the main stage. We’ve been renting one for a number of years and a permanent one would allow us to get bigger beams, and we can float more lights and more sound and just put a better production on for all our patrons. We try to improve the site every year, and I think that will be our project for next year.”

RCMP said that unlike other years, traffic wasn’t an issue on Highway 10 this year and all vehicles on Wednesday were off the highway within an hour of gates opening.

Police also had a fairly quiet weekend, considering the influx of people in the area and the partying that comes with a festival of this size. As of Sunday morning RCMP had charged five people with impaired driving, four for open liquor, three for not wearing seat belts and seven for traffic offenses. There was also one report of a stolen car, and 24 people were lodged for being intoxicated.