Country Thunder Saskatchewan (formerly the Craven Country Jamboree) is an annual

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

music festival A music festival is a community event with performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock, blues, folk, jazz, classical music), nationality, locality of musicians, or h ...

, held in the

Qu'Appelle Valley The Qu'Appelle River is a river in the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba that flows east from Lake Diefenbaker in south-western Saskatchewan to join the Assiniboine River in Manitoba, just south of Lake of the Prairies, near t ...

, near Craven,

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

History

The event was first held in 1983 as the Big Valley Jamboree, with

Roy Orbison Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23, 1936 – December 6, 1988) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician known for his impassioned singing style, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. His music was described by critics as ...

as a headline act. The event was originally founded by Roman Catholic priest

Lucien Larré Lucien Larre (born 1933 in St. Walburg, Saskatchewan) is a Canadian Roman Catholic priest with a doctorate in clinical psychology. He is the founder of Bosco Homes, a Saskatchewan-based organization operating homes for troubled youth, and created t ...

as a fundraiser for his youth housing charity Bosco Homes. A historic feature of the festival has been the "Gopher Run", a rush seating line where up to 3,000 spectators can bring their own

chair A chair is a type of seat, typically designed for one person and consisting of one or more legs, a flat or slightly angled seat and a back-rest. They may be made of wood, metal, or synthetic materials, and may be padded or upholstered in vario ...

s for the front row. In the late-1980's, the Jamboree came under government oversight due to an abuse scandal involving Larré. In 1993, the Jamboree was sold to the Alberta-based Vinco Foods, who began to hold a sister event in

Camrose, Alberta Camrose ( ) is a city in central Alberta, Canada that is surrounded by Camrose County. Located along Highway 13 it had its beginnings as a railroad hub. History The area around Camrose was first settled by Europeans around 1900. At that time t ...

. By then, the event had begun to see declines in ticket sales and revenue, leading to changes such as a cap on ticket sales, and replacement of the "Gopher Run" with reserved "VIP" seats in 1995. Contrasting its earlier reputation as a family-oriented event, a more raucous atmosphere also began to develop, to the point that the Ministry of Health distributed free

condoms A condom is a sheath-shaped barrier device used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy or a sexually transmitted infection (STI). There are both male and female condoms. With proper use—and use at every act of inte ...

at the Jamboree in 1993, a Regina-based company organized a

strip show A striptease is an erotic or exotic dance in which the performer gradually undresses, either partly or completely, in a seductive and sexually suggestive manner. The person who performs a striptease is commonly known as a "stripper" or an "exo ...

at the local

curling Curling is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area which is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take turns sliding ...

rink in 1994, and an attendee in 1995 was quoted as saying that she was in search of "fast horses, faster men and more beer". After going into receivership, the Big Valley Jamboree was sold to the Queen City

Kinsmen A kinsman is a male relative (see kinship). The term kinsman (or plural kinsmen) may also refer to: Places in the United States *Kinsman, Illinois *Kinsman, Ohio *Kinsman Township, Trumbull County, Ohio *Kinsman Mountain, in the White Mountains ...

in February 1996, who ran the festival with a "back to the basics" approach with less commercialization. Unable to return the event to profitability, the Kinsmen relaunched the Jamboree as a

classic rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, primar ...

festival in 2000, known as Rock 'N The Valley. In 2005, promoter

Troy Vollhoffer Troy Vollhoffer (born February 9, 1966) is an American entrepreneur living in Nashville, Tennessee. He was born in Regina, Saskatchewan. Hockey He played hockey from 1982 to 1992 with minor, junior, and professional teams. According to ''The Star ...

(who had previously worked as a stagehand for early editions of the event) took over the festival, and relaunched it with a return to country music as the Craven Country Jamboree. The Big Valley Jamboree in Camrose has continued to be held. On October 27, 2016, it was announced that the event had been rebranded as part of the

Country Thunder Country Thunder is a music festival company that hosts several concerts in North America each year. They have operated festivals in Arizona since 1993, in Wisconsin since 1996, in Saskatchewan since 2005, in Alberta since 2016, and in Florida sin ...

series of festivals (which are run by Vollhoffer via his company Premier Global Productions), with organizers stating that the integration gave it more "buying power" in terms of attracting larger acts. In 2020 and 2021, the festival was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. The festival returned in 2022.

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.countrythunder.com/sk https://www.bigvalleyjamboree.com/about/ https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/cbc-edmonton-big-valley-jamboree-1.4277978
Music festivals established in 1983 Country music festivals in Canada Music festivals in Saskatchewan