The countdown has officially begun in Saskatchewan.
For the first time since 2019, the iconic Country Thunder music festival will return to the prairies in Craven, Sask.
The stages are being built and may not seem like much now, but in a matter of days they will be home to some of the biggest artists country music has to offer.
Country Thunder returns with a bang with headliners like Blake Shelton and Morgan Wallen.
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A few days before, around 100 employees are already on site preparing the festival grounds for when the gates open.
Kim Blevins, born in Regina, is the general manager of the festival. She says it’s been a tough few years for the industry, but her team is eager and ready to hit the ground running.
“It took me a while to get the rust off, but it’s really special to be back here. We couldn’t come home for a couple of years and now we can be here at home where it all started,” Blevins said.
Blevins says ticket sales have been brisk for the return of North America’s longest-running music festival.
She says sales have been helped by a new partnership with Costco that made tickets available at the wholesale giant.
However, Belvins pulled no punches when it came to the difficulties of hosting a festival in the current climate.
“It’s really tough this year everywhere. From labor costs to fuel costs, truck costs, equipment shortages; we’ve had a great time getting ATVs and side-by-sides. The list goes on and on,” the Country Thunder general manager said.
Conditions at Craven are also shaping up to be scorching hot, with temperatures expected to be in the 30s to 30s Celsius for the duration of the festival.
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Attendees are reminded to wear a hat and sunscreen and of course stay on top of hydration.
While it’s important to keep the water flowing, other liquids will flow as well, and for the first time in festival history, all liquor will be provided by a local company, courtesy of Last Mountain Distillery.
Providing all of the event’s vodka, rum, whiskey, gin, as well as 30,000 coolers, has been a long road for Meredith Schmidt and her distillery in Lumsden.
“We used to be so small and we thought there wasn’t even a chance we would even try something like this. As if it were the production value of the entire year for that weekend. But now we’re finally in a place where we can do it and it’s really exciting to be here,” Schmidt said.
Country Thunder takes place July 14-17 and weekend and single day tickets are still available.
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