Year 1 of festival rebrand complete
Spirit of Craven persists for those who remember event’s previous branding
The Country Thunder Music Festival in Craven finished its 2017 run on Sunday night.
It marked the first year the summer event operated under the Country Thunder brand. In years prior, it was called the Craven Country Jamboree.
Gerry Krochak, director of marketing and media for the festival, says the new brand is a success.
“Not everybody responds that well to change, but I think people have seen, I guess you want to make improvements every year and we started in the right places, with the new concert bowl configuration and the grass,” he said.
Many festival attendees had taken note of the grounds being improved this year.
“The washrooms have been a really big thing out here,” Krochak said. “It’s not just having new washrooms, but it’s how they’re serviced and keeping them clean that seems to have people happy. Of course, out here you have low flow. You have to hold the flusher a little longer.”
Krysten Albert, who has been to Craven before, said she could tell a “ton of money and a ton of work” had been put into improving the grounds.
But despite Country Thunder bringing in well-known headliners — Toby Keith, Blake Shelton and Keith Urban — Albert and others say the number of people staying in Craven is noticeably fewer than the previous years they have attended.
“I don’t know if it was because of the rebrand, but there hasn’t been quite the population there has been in the past,” she said. “I think with rebranding, it takes a lot of time to fully change.”
Sgt. Craig Cleary with the RCMP says for the police’s part, the number of overall calls is on par with other years.
“The actual charges laid I would say are lower in years past, but calls for service are pretty similar, as well as the types of calls,” he said.
Evan Thorson, a longtime attendee of the annual festival, said he noticed the grounds this year were, “cleaner, and not nearly as much as a gong show.”
He added that, despite the changes for the better, the event will “always be Craven. Anyone who has been to Craven, when it was Craven, it will be Craven.”
That was the widespread sentiment on Sunday: the changes Country Thunder brought are great, but at its heart the festival has the same spirit as the Craven Country Jamboree and will, for now, continue be known simply as Craven.