Craven Country Jamboree

Craven Country Jamboree is an annual country music festival, held in the Qu'Appelle Valley, near Craven, Saskatchewan, Canada.

One of the grand-daddies of music festivals, there has been music on this piece of property since 1983. The original festival was called the Big Valley Jamboree, and was first established by Father Lucien Larre, as a fundraiser for his Bosco Homes for emotionally disturbed youth. A successor event, the Kinsmen Rock'N the Valley rock music festival, ran until 2004. The country music format was revived in 2005 and renamed the Craven Country Jamboree. Some of the biggest acts in country music have performed at this festival site, including Garth Brooks, George Strait, Toby Keith, Tim McGraw, John Denver, Conway Twitty, Johnny Cash, Kenny Rogers, Willie Nelson, Dixie Chicks and many more. Including special guests like Willie Robertson from A&E's Duck Dynasty.^[1] For most of these years, the festival was hosted by long time comedy duo, Williams and Ree, who still host the Craven Country Jamboree today.

The Craven Country Jamboree is held every summer, in July, for four days, hosting 94,000 fans over four days.^[2] With two venues for live music, the main stage, and Leopold's Tavern beer garden, fans get a mixture of the biggest stars and upcoming acts in country music, as well as incredible local talent. Besides the music, the Craven Country Jamboree hosts Boy$, Bull$ and Buck$, a junior steer riding competition on Saturday and Sunday morning. Also featured is a local songwriters' circle,^[3] and a hypnotist for added entertainment. Fans can also enjoy many food and retail vendors throughout the weekend.

The Craven Country Jamboree is also recognized for its philanthropical work in the province of Saskatchewan. Each year, the Craven Country Jamboree assists dozens of local charities and organizations raise over $250,000 per year.^[4]

The Craven Country Jamboree is one of the last festivals in North America to forego reserved seating in favour of rush seating. Each evening, dedicated fans sit in the Gopher Run lineup, some overnight, to get the best seats in the house. Each morning, security allows 3,000 lucky fans entrance to set up their lawn chairs, which are their seats for the entire day of shows.^[5]

Line Up

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Craven Country Jamboree.

• List of country music festivals

References