Mud, mud and more mud, that’s Monday after the Country Thunder Music Festival.
After thunderstorms rolled through the festival on Saturday and Sunday, country music fans had to find ways to move their motorhomes out of the mud and begin their trek home.
“I’ve been up since seven this morning and we’re watching people get pulled out, we’re helping people get out. We just hang out and watch the show and it’s almost as entertaining as the big show on stage,” said Armand Pelletier, who has been attending the festival for 11 years.
Over 20,000 fans packed into the festival grounds for the four days of music, sun and a few thunderstorms.
RCMP was kept busy during the festival with 160 calls for service - most of those were alcohol-related with 27 charges laid. Forty-six people were held in custody.
There were also 307 tickets handed out, 432 warnings, 81 vehicle inspection tickets and four roadside suspensions.
While RCMP saw plenty of action, it was the storms that cause most of the headaches for organizers and festival goers.
“Saturday wasn’t too bad, expect for the hail – it hurt when it got you in the head – but last night’s storm, the trailers were rocking back-and-forth pretty bad, so our kids were scared, but we lived through it another year,” said Pelletier.
Yannick Beland, who was attending his first Country Thunder, added, “Lightning everywhere and wind and it got pretty wild.”
Despite the struggles of moving motorhomes from the temporary Qu’Appelle Valley campground, many of the festival attendees weren’t too upset about the conditions.
“For the first year, this was awesome,” said Beland. “Great experience, it’s a fun concert, fun festival. I’m coming back next year.”
“It was great, absolutely great,” added Christopher Lake’s William Johnson. “The weather was kind of iffy, but you know what, we live on the prairies – we’re prairie boys – we’re going to survive.”
Everyone banded together to get out of the muddy campground and some campers just waited until it dried up.
