Organizers pleased with Chingawassa Days turnout

An estimated 1,300 attended this past weekend’s Chingawassa Days, which led the festival to break even financially, pleasing its organizers.

Board member Todd Winter estimated the total number of visitors was “near what we had last year” but could not provide exact figures.

Winter said he did not notice more out-of-town guests at the festival, but an unofficial count of license plates along Main St. showed at least a slight boost in out-of-county attendance.

A lack of storms and temperatures that stayed below 90 provided welcome relief for the crowd Saturday, Winter said.

“It was fabulous. The weather kept people later in the day,” he said. “Last year it was 100 degrees, and we saw people pack up and leave right after lunch. Bingo was packed this year, and it was awesome to see everyone stay for that.”

Friday night’s concert featuring ’80s hair band tribute acts Motley Crucial and Poison Overdose fell flat with some audience members who took issue with language used by some band members and the volume of the show. “We don’t support that kind of language at a family festival,” Winter said on behalf of the board.

“We strive to keep this a family festival and the bands didn’t cooperate with our desires. We apologize and we will work harder for this not to happen in the future.”

He said he, too, was baffled by the tribute bands’ volume after their rehearsal.

“What’s crazy is, when they were practicing, they were perfect. They turned it up,” he said.

Saturday’s acts went over well, and the boost in attendance reflected that, he said. He praised Justin McCormick, Cameron DuBois and headliner Dylan Scott for their graciousness.

McCormick, 17, and DuBois, 25, are enrolled in PCG Universal, a Nashville-based program that develops young artists. Chingawassa has had good luck with PCG’s artists, Winter said.

“They were a big hit. That’s why we brought them in again,” he said.

Dylan Scott’s high-energy show also was well received, Winter said.

“Man, I loved it. It was really fun. What’s cool is about half the crowd was not familiar with his music, but they enjoyed it,” Winter said.

All three performers made themselves available to fans after their sets, posing for pictures and signing autographs.

“That makes it really a lot of fun when they do stuff like that,” Winter said.