Country Fest 2011 - Part 1

It is finally here, part 1 of my Country Fest 2011 recap!

Thursday June 23rd began with some last minute packing and prepping for the drive to our hotel.  Once everything was loaded in my aunt's Ford Explorer we went to the bar for lunch before hitting the road.  I was the one who had taken care of ordering the tickets and printing them so I was the most important person to have along.

After checking into our hotel room and dropping our bags off we headed out in search of the Country Fest grounds.  My mom and aunt had been there once before when I was still in the single digit ages so we were relying on their memories.   Not that we got lost be we started second guessing how far it was from the little town of Cadott.  After using my smart phone to look up the address and plug it into my navigation we realized had we just gone a little further we would have found the road we needed.

Due to it being the first day traffic was backed up quite a ways, and got worse the later it got.  We passed the time by playing Paper Toss on my mom's phone.  Even my aunt was playing despite being in the driver's seat.

We arrived while the first act was preforming.  It was supposed to be Ashley Gearing but she was replaced last minute by someone who I can't remember since I didn't actually get to watch.

After getting our wrist bands for the weekend and finding a parking space we went in to get our wrist bands for the reserved seating area and find our lawn chairs, which we got to take home at the end of the weekend.

Once drinks were in hand we settled in for Joey and Rory, who I thought was two girls until seeing them and realizing that they were a very cute married couple.  I didn't take any pictures of them, sorry!

Next up was Lonestar.  Some songs you may know by them are; Amazed, I'm Already There, Walking In Memphis, and No News.

Lead Singer

Following Lonestar was the Redneck Woman herself, Gretchen Wilson.  Some songs you may know; Redneck Woman, Here for the Party, California Girls, and All Jacked Up.

Gretchen Wilson is also on tour with Big & Rich, maybe other artists as well I can't remember, and it is her band that plays for them so they started playing Save a Horse Ride a Cowboy which the whole crowd sang.  It ended up being the best sounding "sing-a-long" of the whole weekend!

And last but not least was Mr. Trace Adkins!  Some songs you may know of his are: Fishin', Brown Chicken Brown Cow, Chrome, and Arlington.

Great Jumbo Screen shot huh?

Nice pants Trace ;)

During one of his last few songs my mom, aunt, and I gathered our things and started walking to the car.  Getting out of the grounds was so much faster than getting in just a few hours earlier since almost everyone was already checked in.  We drove back to the hotel and I quickly fell into bed and went to sleep.

One thing I didn't mention is that it rained that first day we were there.  It wasn't enough that we had to hide in a building or anything but it was enough that you wanted a rain jacket and the chairs were wet.  Obviously it didn't impact our day that much as I didn't even think to tell you about it initially.

Well, there you have it, day one of Country Fest 2011.  Stayed tuned for part two soon!

Have you seen any of these artists in concert before?  Of the artists I saw that Thursday which is your favorite?