Country Thunder in Twin Lakes, Wisconsin is a once a year extravaganza that comes with about everything you would expect a country festival to include. All the food, alcohol, lifted trucks, cutoffs, jean shorts, country music and water bottles (yes even water), all created a weekend to remember. This was my second year camping out in the fields and it was definitely an experience due to how hot it was and also the amount of thunderstorms encountered.
Country Thunder isn’t just a weekend to go have fun with friends and meet new people, it's sort of a homecoming for me. Just down the street from the fairgrounds is Nippersink golf course, a golf course that I used to live right next to for almost ten years. I’ve never really been the biggest fan of camping out in a tent all weekend, but just going back getting to see old faces and reminisce about old memories is something that is always worth the rain and sweat.
This year was different for me than last year though; last year all we had to worry about was the heat, but this year we had to worry if the weather was going to cancel any of the concerts scheduled. This also led to some unfortunate miscommunication between the staff and the people in attendance. Thursday night artist Chris Young was scheduled to perform but around seven at night it started to downpour and thunder. Unfortunately, they had decided to cancel the concert due to the weather to which many of the people in attendance were not happy about. While we shouldn’t have been surprised it got cancelled, they finally decided to cancel the concert around midnight which was frustrating.
Due to the impact of the storms, it made the ground very muddy and hard to drive through. The biggest problem people had all weekend was this year they supplied many campsites with trashcans. With the storms however, it was almost a whole two days before the trash trucks were able to come get our trashcans (you can imagine the amount of trash that was piled up). On behalf of those who live there, as a former resident of that area myself, I think it's safe to say that Country Thunder does have its flaws. However, the festival does bring a very large amount of profit to many local businesses out there that simply wouldn’t get as much if it weren't for this annual music phenomenon. Think of Country Thunder as the Black Friday for Genoa City and Twin Lakes.
Despite the weather, the heat and the trash obstacles, I did have a blast at Country Thunder this year. I got to create some great memories, meet new people, and most importantly, I got to watch some of the best country artists on the planet. Seeing the likes of Florida Georgia Line, Thomas Rhett and Cadillac Three was truly a great experience. However, to see the main headliner Eric Church perform was really something special. Country music today is still fun, but it's more about the performance than anything. With Erich Church, it's more relaxed but you’re still entertained throughout the entire show. I will never compare anyone to the late great Johnny Cash, but listening to Eric Church’s music live gave me the same feeling I have when I listen to Johnny Cash, relaxed and entertained.
