After lots of sorting and rearranging (and a little bit of coding), our Country Thunder 2009 Photo Galleries are up and ready to rock – complete with handy dandy comment-ability and Facebook-share links!
Check out the galleries by clicking on Photos or here!
Plus, check the blog: we’re looking for your feedback on Country Thunder 2009!
We’re looking for highlights of your Country Thunder experience and this one comes from a co-worker. She was lucky enough to get down front for the final performance of the festival. I’m sure it helped that she’s a *huge* Tim McGraw fan: nothing would have stopped her from getting to that stage! (And, though she doens’t mention it below, she actually *held* Tim’s leg!)
This was my first time attending Country Thunder and it was a great experience to be among country music fans enjoying the party.
Tim McGraw was phenomenal and actually sat by me, held my hand and he sang to me. What an awesome concert and an awesome experience – one I will never forget.
What was your favorite experience or memory? Share it below in the comments!
[check out the original story at KenoshaNews.com for photos, including Tim McGraw!]
BY DENEEN SMITH
dsmith@kenoshanews.com
RANDALL — For 361 days of the year, Brent Zaagman and Arian Landheer live in Lyndon, Ill., population 566.
The other four days, they move someplace a little more populous — the raucous campgrounds at Country Thunder.
Zaagman and Landheer, both farmers by trade, were hanging out under the awning outside the Thunderbus, a former school bus, now painted green. The campground was beginning to empty out Saturday evening in advance of headliner Tim McGraw, who was closing out the four-day festival.
They would be headed out soon themselves, but for the moment were content to chat in the shadow of the bus.
“We picked it up for $800. Gave it a paint job, fixed up the inside a bit,” Landheer said. “This is its only outing every year.”
Some folks sleep up on the roof, some inside. “And some of us sleep underneath,” Landheer said, pointing to his own sleeping bag with a view of the rear axle.
The two, who farm neighboring tracts of land near their hometown, have been coming to Country Thunder every year for the past eight. Since they’re only 25 and 26 years old, they’ve spent a fair bit of their formative years at the festival.
“It’s country music; it’s the whole atmosphere,” Zaagman said of the draw. This year, the two said, they found the atmosphere a little more convivial. They said the festival’s security forces had been friendly but out in force, and that there appeared to be fewer problems with the crowd.
“It’s been really laid back,” Zaagman said. “It’s been, ‘Let’s have fun, but let’s not get out of control.’”
The festival has new owners this year, with the new management cutting back the main stage entertainment from four days to three. They also cut back on the number of vendors on the site, boosted security, and shifted the concert times for headliners to slightly earlier times.
Jeremy Westby, who handled public relations for the festival, said the organizers sold more tickets this year than they had projected.
He said the event had its biggest crowd on Thursday for headliner Taylor Swift, with about 12,900 people in attendance. On Friday there was a crowd of about 10,000. Saturday’s numbers were unavailable, but Westby projected them to reach close to Thursday’s ticket sales.
Westby said the event had tough competition this year, with SummerFest in Milwaukee, and competing country music concerts in the area by popular artists like Rascal Flatts.
Next year, Westby said, organizers plan to push the festival back by a week, and hope to run the event Thursday through Sunday.
“It seems like the crowd is down a little bit,” said Lt. Paul Falduto of the Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department. “The campgrounds aren’t quite as full as they have been been. The traffic coming in hasn’t been as heavy.”
The sheriff’s department has between 20 and 30 deputies patrolling the festival, organizers reimbursing the county for their time. Falduto said there have been fewer problems this year than in the past, with few fights and little serious crime beyond a rash of burglaries in the campgrounds. The thieves focused largely on beer.
If attendance was down, vendor Beverly Hills — she swears that is her real name — said it hasn’t affected sales.
Hills has sold western hats from a trailer at the event each year for the past 12. She credits the new management with a better organized event, a more contented crowd and customers who were looking to go shopping.
“This was the best year I’ve had in 12 years,” she said.
After taking Sunday to wind down — I’m sure everyone who was there would agree that a little bit of R&R after four days of Thudner is needed — we’re back to fill out our recap, sort through our photos, track down some folks from whom we want some blog perspectives (I’ve heard *someone* got to touch Tim McGraw’s leg…) and everything else.
And, what we really want is to hear from you, the fellow Country Thunder attendee: what you liked, loved and want so more of. Also, what you don’t want to see again next year, or what you missed from years past.
Leave us a comment here or tweet us @KenoshaThunder!
Back in a few!
Hey all you Country Thunder Fans!
The Phil Vassar concert last night was Incredible!! He and the band totally rocked our socks – and boots – off! Vassar, our southern “piano man” had the crowd on their feet for over an hour. Talk about a high energy performance- up and down the catwalk and sliding across his zebra print piano – Phil only stopped to get a beer refill! And let’s face it, that was a break that the audience supported!
The seats up on deck were fabulous!! Getting to see the behind the scenes action definitely made the show more intense. Thanks to the Kenosha News for the VIP treatment! I’m pretty sure that Phil Vassar winked at me when he looked up at the deck! 
Hope ya’ll enjoy the rest of the night at Country Thunder. Gear up for Tim McGraw tonight!!!
One of our Country Thunder favorites, Phil Vassar, rocked this place so hard last night, we’re still trying to recover. We should have a blog recount of the show from one of our lucky onstage seat winners coming later this afternoon. So stay tuned!
In the meantime, check out our Phil photos here!
Just checked out Heidi Newfield’s great performance at 330 – and got some great photos. She got this place rockin’ even with a little bit of cool rain.
Check out our photo page for the shots!
Wow! Taylor Swift brought the thunder *and* lightning to Twin Lakes last night. The crowd was charged with anticipation before she hit the stage. Her pre-show video kicked in and people went nuts – for a video!
When Taylor emerged from underneath the top of the huge stage setup, this place exploded. I was down in the VIP shooting photos (lucky for you!) and the stampede didn’t help with the image stabilization, nor did the base. But, the energy was well worth a few blurry shots mixed in with some really great ones.
Huge crowd, bigger performance. There’s a reason this woman sells so many records and sells-out shows.
Check out our photo page for some of the great shots I was able to get.
Wow.
Just watched the Wall of Death. Totally amazing. You *have* to see it if you’re here. One of only four in North America.
The coordination and skill is beyond blogging.
I’ll have some ok pics up soon on the photo page.
We’re up an running today, Day Two!
Check out the twitter stream – lots of updates there.
We should find out who our meet and greets and onstage seats are for today’s giveaways mid-afternoon today, so be sure to follow us on your phone, either via twitter or the mobile site. (click on the Country Thunder 2009 Live banner at the top)
Lots of new photos up on flickr, too! More later…