If it's been years since you've gone there's been so many upgrades that you may not recognize it. 

Country Thunder Saskatchewan 2019 is now underway. The gates opened to attendees to either find their campsite and drop off their trailer or for those who were able to get away from work and get an early start on their weekend. 

Since Country Thunder officials reinvigorated the show a few years ago, festival goers now have porcelain flushing toilets at the grandstands, the concert bowl has grass, and Main Street has been paved. But the hard work in the offseasons didn't stop there according to Gerry Krochak, who said this year has even more exciting announcements.

"There's a slingshot ride, we've had that at our big U.S. shows and our fans love it. We've got a Vegas-style pool party, we've got a beach volleyball tournament that fans can come out there and win over $10,000 in prizes. We have Budweiser Pro Wrestling, tons of fun stuff. It'll be an assault of the senses and that's just kind of the icing on the cake for what has turned into such a huge tradition in Saskatchewan, people getting together with their friends, enjoying the great outdoors, enjoying the music, the sights, the sounds, the smells of Country Thunder Saskatchewan for yet another year," Gerry Krochak, Director of Marketing and Media Relations for Country Thunder Saskatchewan explained. 

He said this year is special for him, as it will be bringing back some fond memories or returning talent. He'll also get to watch some artists who will be performing on the main stage for the first time. 

"A lot of these artists, they love coming here. Tim McGraw, when the Craven Country Jamboree was reinvigorated in 2004 he was our first headliner on the Sunday. The thing I remember about that show is in the afternoon there was a giant touch football game backstage and knowing that he's coming back this year, it's a great blend of the tradition as well as some new artists that have never been here before and the whole thing comes together," Krochak added. 

He noted that there's a bit of a misconception when it comes to the country music festival as many believe that when it was re-branded to Country Thunder Saskatchewan that meant a new group of outsiders were moving in. 

"We've had a lot of people ask us about the Saskatchewan roots of this festival and I think some people are surprised to find out that this festival brand, now with six shows across North America, was born and started in Saskatchewan. All of our senior management group, most of the people on the management team, and lots of the people who work with the shows they're all from Saskatchewan," said Krochak. "Nobody from the U.S. invaded Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan invaded the rest of the continent. We fly the Saskatchewan flag very proudly. It's really cool that people have brought that topic up because sometimes you get busy with everything you're doing and you forget to puff out your chest a little bit harder being from this part of the world. This one is special for us, it's a homecoming for all of us and we're as excited the fans."

If you procrastinated and still don't have tickets but are planning to go, Krochak said you can still get them online or they will be allowing attendees to purchase single day passes or full weekend passes at the gate.

Once again SGI will be offering their safe ride program and bussing people to and from the cities of Moose Jaw and Regina to give festival goers a sober ride option. You can click here to view the schedule. 

Here is a map of the grounds provided by the Country Thunder Saskatchewan website.

For all other information about Country Thunder Saskatchewan 2019, click here.