Hot weather, great music, good times!
Monday, June 29, 2015 (Dauphin MB) -- It was one of the hottest weekends that Dauphin has experienced in years, with temperatures climbing higher than 30-degrees on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And with sunny skies the majority of the time, the 26th Countryfest will go down as one of the best festival weekends on record.
“Sunshine really makes the festival a happier place,” says Eric Irwin, President of Dauphin’s Countryfest. “The freakish amount of rain we got last year was extreme to say the least, and it affected people’s spirits. All you can do is come back again and hope for better weather – and we definitely got that this year.”
“We sell fun and everybody had lots of it,” says Irwin.
COUNTRYFEST BY THE NUMBERS:
Daily attendance: 12,000
Number of artists: 60 bands on 3 stages over 4 days
Number of tour buses that rolled through: 19
Number of artist meet-and-greets: 11
Number of lucky fans who got to meet-and-greet: 385
Number of bags of ice used on site: 20,500
Number of perogies eaten in the perogy-eating contest: 500
Number of minutes the winner took to eat 50 perogies: less than 4!
Number of members on Countryfest’s Board of Directors: 12
Number of full-time year-round Countryfest staff: 3
Number of volunteers who work at the festival: 2000
Number of years that Eric Irwin has attended: 26
Number of years that Rob Waloschuk has been booking the talent: 25
Number of years that Kenny Shaw has been Master of Ceremonies: 24 (**note – he is retiring after this year)
SAVE THE DATES FOR 2016:
Dauphin’s Countryfest in 2016 will once again span Canada Day – with Countryfest sure to be the biggest and best Canada Day party in all of Manitoba! So save the dates! June 30 to July 3, 2016. And stay tuned for artist announcements, coming soon…
ABOUT DAUPHIN’S COUNTRYFEST:
The 26th annual Dauphin’s Countryfest took place June 25-28, 2015. Canada’s longest running country music festival has been attracting the biggest names in country music to one of the most beautiful regions of Manitoba since 1990. Situated on the edge of Riding Mountain National Park, the unique outdoor amphitheatre built into the side of an escarpment provides every patron a perfect view from any one of the 14,000 seats in the house.
Dauphin’s Countryfest is a not-for-profit organization that consists of a 12-member volunteer Board of Directors and a membership of more than 2000 loyal supporters. Organizers credit over 2000 volunteers who work tirelessly each year providing essential services for the festival weekend, while fundraising for their respective community organizations. In addition to various community contributions, Countryfest pays out approximately $150,000 each year to community organizations that provide services for the festival.
Dauphin’s Countryfest was named a finalist at the prestigious Canadian Tourism Awards in 2013, nominated in the category of Tourism Event of the Year. The festival was also awarded the 2012 Philanthropist of the Year Award from The Dauphin & District Community Foundation, given to individuals or businesses that show the true spirit of philanthropy and giving. www.countryfest.ca.
