'Seeing people smile again': Vendors prosper at Country Thunder after 2 year break

Even with temperatures of around 34 C, the general feelings of those attending Country Thunder this year were upbeat for both vendors and fans alike.

July 16 marked Country Thunder’s third day, but the festival and those attending were showing no signs of slowing down.

Darren Zawyrucka is an owner and operator of the Campfire Grill, a vendor that has been a staple of the festival for the last several years. He said that business all but stopped due to the pandemic so the return of Country Thunder was much welcomed.

“Everything that we do is basically 5,000 or more people,” Zawyrucka said. “We don’t do street business with our food trucks, generally speaking. So with COVID-19, you know that basically shut down everything for us. So it’s absolutely fantastic to be back here today.”

Among regulars like Campfire Grill, there were newcomers with a little different flavour.

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This year’s sponsors for the event included the likes of Western Cannabis and the Weed Pool Cannabis Cooperative.

“It’s the first time any kind of cannabis business has sponsored this event,” said Jim Southam, President of the Cooperative and owner of Prairie Cannabis.

“So we’re pretty excited to be here and the crowds are pretty excited that we’re here too.”

Regulations on the sale of cannabis dictate that it cannot be sold on the festival grounds. This has led Southam and his partners to establish a cannabis pickup location at Country Thunder.

Buyers can purchase cannabis online from Wiid Boutique in Lumsden. It is then delivered to the pickup location and handed off.

“Once it's paid for and confirmed, then it’s delivered here within the hour usually,” Southam explained.

“It's new to everybody, you know, it's a little complicated. It's not like the beer stand where you walk up and buy a beer. So it's a little more complicated to place an order and get it here but it's working well.”

Other than the vendors both new and old, there was also the welcome return of local fundraisers such as the Lumdsen Duck Derby, now in its 34th year.

“It's so nice, everyone is ready to go, everyone is so happy to be here,” said president of the derby, Morgan Mayer.

“We’re so thrilled to be here as well. We're really fortunate that we have this primo spot. Everyone is just ready to have a good time and so are we.”

The event, in which thousands of rubber ducks are dumped (and then raced) into the Qu’Appelle River, fundraised around $98,000 last year. Mayer hopes to replicate that success this year.

“We usually get a few thousand people over the weekend. It's one of our biggest events of the year.”

All proceeds go to the Lumsden Sport association.

“We’re here to support the kids and encourage their activities,” Mayer said.

All told, the general feeling at Country Thunder was that it was good to be back, and be together once again.

“Another great day today, a hot one again, same tomorrow,” said Zawyrucka.

“But now we're just really, really happy to be out here seeing people smile again.”