Craven organizers pleased 2016 event; attendance on-par

Despite the wet and soggy start, organizers of the Craven Country Jamboree are happy with the way this year’s event is going.

Kim Blevins, director of marketing for the Craven Country Jamboree, said the weekend is going well. She added the rain did cause some issues at the start.

“We kind of had a slow start with the weather on Tuesday… but we made the right call getting people to relocate for the day, the grounds are drying nicely.”

Blevins said the attendance numbers have not changed dramatically this year.

“We’re on-par with last year, maybe a little bit down.”

Blevins said organizers would have a more clear picture on overall attendance numbers after the event as lots of people are choosing to buy day passes. She also touched on plans for next year’s event.

“We’re already booking into 2017, we’ve got three of our headliners, are almost confirmed.”

The picture for the jamboree is not all rosy though. Blevins told News Talk Radio they do face some challenges in regards to the growing costs of bringing in big headliners.

“Zach Brown was a million dollars, Eric Church is a million dollars… it ranges… and those prices are going up year by year which is hard for us because we’re paying in U.S. dollars.”

In previous years, the festival would be paying between $500,000 to $750,000 for a big headliner.

Blevins said organizers are trying to keep ticket prices low for the fans, but small increases are likely in the future to help cover rising costs.