Great music, fans contribute to Countryfest success

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This article was published 02/07/2012 (5059 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Beautiful weather marked the final day of Dauphin’s 23rd annual Countryfest on Sunday.

About 12,000 fans soaked in the sunshine and music from the 50 bands at the outdoor festival at the Selo Ukraina site, located 10 kilometers south of Dauphin.

Ronnie Dunn (formerly of Brooks & Dunn), Georgia’s Zac Brown Band, in its first-ever Canadian appearance, Canadian rockers Bachman & Turner and Reba, who made her Countryfest debut on Sunday, headlined the event.

Proceeds raised at the non-profit festival will go towards improving the site and event experience and helping out non-profit organizations in the surrounding communities said Dauphin’s Countryfest president Eric Irwin. Irwin said an independent review done two years ago concluded the festival brings in $9.7 million to the area every year.

This year the festival invested $650,000 in a new steel roof and a new stage floor. Part of the cost was covered by government grants to the non-profit festival.

“The new roof doubled the size of the stage so we can now have much bigger productions here. Last night, the Zac Brown Band moved in three semi trailers worth of stuff onto the stage. We have a first-class stage here now and it’s much safer than the temporary structures, plus we don’t have to pay $40,000 every year to rent and transport one from Winnipeg,” Irwin said.

Cally Stephanow of Roblin said she came to watch Reba and found the atmosphere so incredibly friendly.

“It’s a really young crowd, so there’s lots of crazy things going on and it’s lots of fun. I’m definitely coming back next year,” Stephanow said.

There was also plenty of non-musical fun at Countryfest, including beach volleyball, a poker tournament and a sports bar for viewing CFL games.

Chris Semeschuk, 24, of Brandon said one of his favourite parts of the day was hanging out at the creek to cool off. This is the eighth consecutive year Semeschuk attended Countryfest and he plans on coming to many more because he’s a huge country music fan.

Alyson Sametz of Dauphin has come to the festival ever since she can remember.

“The best thing about the festival is that you get to catch up with people you haven’t seen in a long time — like our party camping neighbours who we only see once a year,” Sametz said.

Irwin said the festival has been quiet in terms of criminal activity this year.

“When you have a party with 12,000 people, you have to expect there will be a couple of people that cause some trouble and have to be removed. If you think about it, there will be trouble in Dauphin on a Friday night and there is only 8,000 people living there,” Irwin said.

On Saturday, RCMP responded to five calls to the Countryfest site, including four disturbances and one theft. Five people were arrested and lodged for being intoxicated.

At least 24 people were chargedfor speeding,19 people werecharged for other traffic offenses, six charged for having open liquor and two people had their driving privileges suspended for 24 hours.

» rbooker@brandonsun.com