Country usa

Country USA returns to Sawdust City with top stars of country music

Music fans flooded Ford Festival Park's new "gateway to the stars" in 2007, but Country USA is on course to break records during its five-day event this week.

A star-studded lineup hits Oshkosh Wednesday through Sunday, boasting headliners like Sugarland, Dierks Bentley and George Jones, as well as a pool of rising talents like Miranda Lambert.

"This year is the largest entertainment budget we have worked with," Country USA owner/promoter Dan Liebhauser said of the $2.2 million that took care of the tab for acts like Kenny Chesney and Brooks & Dunn.

While fans snatched up more than 170,000 tickets — and contributed to the event's $25 million tourism impact on Oshkosh — to catch a lineup featuring the likes of Carrie Underwood, Trace Adkins and Alan Jackson in 2007, Liebhauser said he expects this year to top the charts in terms of attendance.

"Fan and ticket response has just been exceptional," he said. "We've never relaxed our entertainment budget; we always spend more (because) fans have come to expect great entertainment."

This week's CUSA return marks the second season at the festival's permanent home off South Washburn Street at Ripple Road marks. Anxious fans are days away from touting white tanks, trendy Stetsons and strapping on those boots, but there are a few things festival-goers should know about first.

Aside from putting in a firm request for sunny skies last year already, Liebhauser said Oshkosh's annual honky-tonk shindig will see a few changes this year.

Tweaking trouble spots

Traffic, camping and minor site concerns raised by festival-goers in 2007, the first year at the new grounds, prompted the festival to implement changes for 2008.

"You need at least one year, one event to be able to find out where your trouble spots are," Liebhauser said.

A big concern expressed by festival-goers last summer was getting out of Ford Festival Park after a headliner performance. Fans waited up to two hours while traffic chugged onto Washburn after a record number of patrons turned out to see Carrie Underwood's Thursday night show.

"The first couple days were difficult and very slow for people to be able to get out of the festival parking lots," Liebhauser said. "I think we've got a good fix on that problem, but we'll know more when we have a chance to see how it works."

However, a new exit plan out of VIP parking on day two in 2007 alleviated some congestion, and CUSA is taking it a step further this week, opening a second exit route to flow general parking traffic onto Washburn Street.

Winnebago County Sheriff's Capt. John Matz said the changes will hopefully allow patrons to get out of the festival grounds easier.

"Getting in wasn't a problem," Matz said. "But getting out was an issue and we've addressed it as much as that it can be given the physical layout."

Aside from traffic issues, Matz said the sheriff's department expects to deal with many of the same issues they've dealt with before. In the past, underage drinking and parties in the campground area were the main issues.

"It's fairly limited in terms of arrests for crimes," he said. "It's just when you deal with a crowd of 65,000 people and campgrounds with 2,500 campsites and alcohol, it requires a fair amount of law attention."

Another issue raised by festival guests last season initially stumped Country USA officials. Complaints that camping sites seemed smaller at Ford Festival Park bewildered Liebhauser.

"We could not understand it, because it's foot for foot the same 20 by 40 (sites) we had at the old festival grounds," he said. "But when we went back and looked, we found a lot had irregular sizing, such as for the big rigs, the big RVs."

Gate-busting entertainment

On tap this year is a slew of big names that have elicited screams from crowds around the country, and they couldn't be happier to hit our neck of the woods.

Academy of Country Music award-winning songstress Miranda Lambert hits the main stage at 8:30 p.m. Thursday to rev up crowds before Dierks Bentley's headliner set.

"I think country is so cool right now; there are so many great singer-songwriters coming out, so many great new artists," Lambert said. "I'm just excited to see the fans on the road."

Carried by a record-setting entertainment budget, this year's lineup makes even the festival's owner a little apprehensive - but there's no way he was compromising on quality, he says.

"We get a little nervous when we get up around those big numbers, but fans have come to expect great entertainment," Liebhauser said.

Already last fall fans started buzzing about the 2008 event online, excited over a the booking of country star Kenny Chesney and a bevy of hot newcomers like Jason Michael Carroll. This spring fans could hardly contain their excitement.

"I am getting pumped!!!" Milwaukee fan Nate Ihlefeld wrote late May on the Country USA-dedicated page on Facebook.

"I can't wait!" Wisconsin college student Amber Schmidt wrote this week.

Fans will notice that tunes still will spill out of tents all day in addition to main-stage music during the festival, but CUSA has eliminated two of its regional stages.

"We replaced them with actually increased size and quality of entertainment in the two remaining stages," Liebhauser said.