Canada Country Music Festivals
Rockin’ River Musicfest in Merritt, BC, Canada
“If you ask us, of all the Canada Country Music Festivals out there, the Rockin’ River Musicfest is a must-go event for country fans.”
Canadian pride at the Rockin River Musicfest
Canada country music festivals are a big deal here in Canada, especially throughout Western and Central Canada where farmers, ranchers, horseback riding, and cowboy hats are part of everyday life in many communities. This part of Canada is the “hot bed” of country music in Canada. It is here, in Western and Central Canada, where most Canada country music festivals are found and cherished.
A week ago we attended one of Canada’s biggest country music celebrations
called the Rockin’ River Musicfest. (There are 4 videos below. One for each day.)
Colin and Greg (and the beloved Maple Leaf RV) arrive at the Rockin River Musicfest
Our Rockin’ River Musicfest Baptism
This was our first experience attending the Rockin’ River Musicfest in Merritt, BC. To say the least, we were super excited to have the opportunity to immerse ourselves into country music lore and to interact with it’s fans. Of all the Canada country music festivals, we could not ask for a better venue for us to “cowboy up”, then at the Rockin’ River Musicfest. The event attracts top notch country music talent and other country bands from all around North America to perform. Each night was a a different major headliner and the music – while, lets just say, fringin’ awesome! Ops… did I scream too loud there?
Rockin’ River Musicfest and Beyond
River party on the Coldwater River at the festival.
To some people’s surprise, or not, Canada country music festivals are not all about country music. No, there are other go-to highlights of festivals. In this case, at the Rockin River Musicfest, it is the rockin’ river party. During the sun soaked four days of the festival massive crowds would gather on the Coldwater River and set up their chairs, coolers and beverage tables, and relax, dance and drink away long into the evening hours.
Some festival goers brought water guns and had water-fights. Others took up line dancing on the bridge. Groups would play beer pong. And everyone enjoyed the country music provided by the Donny Grubb Band on the river stage. Of all the bands we heard for the first time at the festival, the Donny Grubb Band rocked our world the best.
Good people. Great music. Wild times.
If you ask us, of all the Canada Country Music Festivals out there, the Rockin’ River Musicfest is a must-go event for country fans. It was so much fun. It was rockin’ all the time on stage and in the river. We met so many good people. It was 4 days of little sleep, lots of music, some toe tapping, and always having great friends and new friends around us was a bonus. What could be better, really? Well… I know one thing… how about me losing my voice. Some people, like my co founding brother Colin, say that it was a good thing. Hmmmm? Really, he is going to go there.
Book your ticket now for 2019 and we hope to see you next year.
Link to Rockin River Musicfest website for booking 2019
The Pre Arrival – Rockin’ River Music Festival
Moon Shadows RV Campground in Merritt BC
We arrived early in Merritt, BC so we could get our barrings straight as it was the first major road trip for the newly launched Maple Leaf RV (here is a link to our Maple Leaf RV intro video). What a wicked rig if I may say so. We set up base-camp and the Maple Leaf RV at the Moon Shadows RV Campground. The campground just happens to be next door to the Rockin’ River Musicfest and it’s festival campgrounds. Convenient right. So we thought so too.
Arrival – Rockin’ River Musicfest
Got our campground and admission passes. Media passes comes later.
Big Canada country music festivals like the Rockin River Musicfest attract large crowds. Large crowds require security people (the blue shirts at this festival), and security check points, as well as, police and an assortment of passes. Each pass provides you certain access to certain areas. No pass, the blue shirts, would step in and send you in the other direction.
Arriving at the East Gate when entering the grounds we encountered our first check point. As instructed in our media invitation email, it was where we were to pick up our passes and credentials. At first there were no passes and we were told to go to the West Gate? Huh? But the Media Hut to pick up our credentials was right in front of us at the East Gate. I mean come on… right there in big letters it says “Media”. So, you can imagine, how that made no sense to us. So we put in some phone calls and sorted things out. Two more check points later, we had arrived.
Setting Up Camp at the Rockin’ River Musicfest
This is where things got interesting. On our arrival we were told to camp in the old beer gardens section on the grounds. So we did. There was construction machinery buzzing all around us. Plus no internet. Ug! One of the workers informed us this was not a safe place to operate from. No kidding.
A few phone calls later, 2 more camping spots later, we finally settled in on vendor row besides Hunky Bills. This guy was a great neighbor who would pop in once in a while to chat. Odd camping spot we thought as we were not vendors but media. In the end it was all good because, as it turns out, many eyeballs set their sights on our Maple Leaf RV. Being on vendors row generated some great ideas for merchandising for next years event circuit.
Video Log of the Rockin’ River Musicfest
Below we have published a video for each day while we were at the Rockin’ River Musicfest in Merritt, BC, Canada. Each video published tells a story of our day and who were the country music artists who struct a cord with us (no pun intended).
The Transition – Day 1 at the Rockin’ River Musicfest
Settling In – Day 2 at the Rockin’ River Musicfest
Getting Use To This – Day 3 at the Rockin’ River Musicfest
The Best Day Yet – Day 4 at the Rockin’ River Musicfest
In closing, the event marketing team at ehCanadaTravel.com (me and my brother) wish to thank all the country music artists, volunteers and staff at the Rockin’ River Musicfest for a job well done. We know it was not easy at times, and it never is, but you did pull off a monster show with exceptional results. Everyone had a blast.
See ya all next year when we “cowboy up” again!
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