Country fans flock to Dauphin

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This article was published 30/06/2011 (5581 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THE Georgia-born singer who’s slated to close Dauphin’s Countryfest on Sunday has the perfect ditty to sum up the festival attitude: Pretty Good At Drinkin’ Beer.

“So hand me one more/ That’s what I’m here for,” Billy Currington sings in the lazy 2010 hit about kickin’ back with a cold one. That’s just what thousands of country fans will be doing today through Sunday as the 22nd annual Countryfest takes over the Selo Ukraina site south of Dauphin.

For many festival-goers, camping with friends and revelling in the sociable atmosphere is a cherished early-summer ritual, whether they kick off their cowboy boots in a modest tent or a deluxe RV. The event has more than 4,000 campsites.

About 1,600 people pay for annual memberships so they get first dibs on returning to the same campsite and the same reserved seats at the 12,000-seat, Jumbotron-equipped amphitheatre, year after year.

“It’s like Christmas for some people,” says Eric Irwin, who is both the president of the non-profit festival and the mayor of Dauphin.

The gathering is Canada’s longest-running country festival. This year, advance ticket sales cooled slightly, so there are still roughly 200 weekend passes available, as well as day passes. A new campground with about 500 campsites has been added, and spots should still be available (see www.countryfest.ca).

Irwin is expecting overall attendance of about 13,000, compared with 13,500 last year. The total number of acts on the three stages is also down slightly, from 46 to 40.

While patriotic Oklahoman Toby Keith, who headlines Saturday, is the biggest draw, Irwin says there’s also a lot of anticipation for the rising Currington and the rock-spirited Eric Church of Smoke a Little Smoke fame. “A lot of people haven’t seen them before in this country,” he says.

Currington suffered a concussion two years ago at the Big Valley Jamboree in Camrose, Alta., when the mainstage collapsed during a windstorm, injuring one of his band members and killing a spectator. But Countryfest’s talent booker says the singer doesn’t have any reservations about playing another outdoor Canadian festival.

Manitoba band Doc Walker has always wanted to headline at Countryfest, Irwin says, and will do so tonight on the mainstage. Friday’s top draw is Johnny Reid, the handsome Canadian country-soul singer with a Scottish accent. “Johnny Reid is just so hot, we’re actually doing bus tours for him . . . from Yorkton and Brandon.”

The festival always includes a few rock acts. This year it’s got the Sheepdogs, the shaggy, ’70s-influenced Saskatoon quartet that has caused a sensation by making it to the final two acts in a contest to be featured on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine and win a major-label record contract. (Online contest voting closes Friday at midnight. The Sheepdogs play Saturday on the Corral Stage and Sunday on the Hilltop Stage.)

Irwin, 55, says the act he is most pumped about is Texan singer-songwriter Joe Ely, a veteran who has done everything from touring with The Clash to singing on the movie soundtrack of The Horse Whisperer. “If people don’t know who he is, they should look him up,” Irwin says.

Last year, a study found that Countryfest’s annual economic impact on the Dauphin area is $9.8 million. Festival profits are invested in site upgrades — this year there’s a new sports bar in the on-site “mini mall” — and donated to community projects.

This past year, Countryfest contributed $400,000 to replacing Dauphin’s old movie theatre, which burned down, with a four-screen, community-owned multiplex.

Out at the site 10 kilometres south of town, the audience won’t exactly be roughing it frontier-style. Besides the new sports bar for those who can’t live without their big-screen CFL games, on-site activities include beach volleyball, a poker tournament, helicopter rides, freestyle motocross demonstrations and, just in case anybody forgets it’s a country event, a mechanical bull.

alison.mayes@freepress.mb.ca

MAINSTAGE SCHEDULE

TONIGHT

7 p.m. — Wyatt

8:30 p.m. — Jason Blaine

10 p.m. — Doc Walker

FRIDAY

1:30 p.m. — Talent Contest Finals

3:30 p.m. — The Stellas

5 p.m. — Chad Brownlee

6 p.m. — Supper Break

7 p.m. — Deric Ruttan

8:30 p.m. — George Canyon

10 p.m. — Johnny Reid

SATURDAY

1:30 p.m. — Cousin Harley

3 p.m. — The Jeffersons

4:30 p.m. — Songwriters’ Circle

6 p.m. — Supper Break

7 p.m. — Crystal Shawanda

8:30 p.m. — Eric Church

10 p.m. — Toby Keith

SUNDAY

12:30 p.m. — Gospel Show with The Sojourners

2 p.m. — The Gift: A Tribute to Ian Tyson

3:30 p.m. — Ladies of the Canyon

5 p.m. — Joe Ely

6 p.m. — Supper Break

7 p.m. — Dean Brody

8:30 p.m. — Joe Nichols

10 p.m. — Billy Currington

Artists & times subject to change without notice