Another year has wrapped up for the Country Thunder music festival in Craven, Sask., where thousands of attendees listened to various country music artists perform on a live stage.
The attendance was largely consistent with last year, but the number of campers fell along with the number of police calls.
“All of our call numbers are down. People are coming out here a lot better prepared, taking care of themselves and it’s really enjoyable when that happens,” said Belinda Mitchell, Country Thunder health and safety manager. “We’re not busy. It (was) a great event.”
Mitchell said the cleanup crew reported that they expect to be done as early as Tuesday, which is a record for them.
“We’ve seen individuals take more pride in their sites. So, they’re bagging up their garbage,” she said. “This new cleaning crew is able to come by on a daily basis and pick it up, which reduces the volume on the sites.”
Mitchell said in the past, Country Thunder was impacted by storms, but this year’s event had no wet conditions, only smoky skies due to wildfires. On July 14, Environment Canada sent out an air quality alert with heavy smoke in the air across southern Saskatchewan.
But that didn’t stop the fun at the music festival. For some, there was a little too much fun as the Saskatchewan RCMP reported receiving 105 calls, with 26 people in custody between July 12 and July 17. According to an RCMP release, there were 27 calls for disturbing the peace, 24 liquor act offences, 14 roadside suspensions for alcohol impairment, and two reports of an assault, among other offences.
Last year, meanwhile, Saskatchewan RCMP said they received 126 calls for service and had 32 people in custody.
“I think this year it was just very well organized. Never really had a backup of traffic flow along the highway. (The) weather co-operated, the fields weren’t wet,” said Staff Sgt. Tim Sartison of the South District management team. “They were it was a really good crowd this year. People were listening to the security, listening to the RCMP and listening to the event staff. So, I would say all those things combined led to a fairly quiet Craven.”
This year marks 40 years since the popular music festival that evolved from the Big Valley Jamboree to Country Thunder, held every summer in Craven.
— with files from Andrew Benson.
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