A Country Fest Q&A: Luke Combs. Tube socks. Mac and cheese bowl. And Dierks Bentley.

Ed Balint, Canton Repository
·2 min read
Luke Combs performs as one of the headliners at The Country Fest in Lawrence Township.
Luke Combs performs as one of the headliners at The Country Fest in Lawrence Township.

LAWRENCE TWP. – The Country Fest — a four-day celebration of country music — returns to Clay's Resort Jellystone Park this week.

As usual, the event is expected to draw tends of thousands of fans to Stark County.

Canton Repository entertainment writer Ed Balint caught up with festival co-founder Aaron Green in advance of this year's event, which kicks off Wednesday, to talk about his favorite concert, performers and food — and tube socks and hot soup.

What was your favorite Country Fest concert?

Probably Luke Combs right after COVID in 2021. It was a great show, Combs was a very hot act, but it also was like, 'Hey, we're not going out of business; we're gong to survive.'

What is the best backstage food?

We've got a pretty nice ice cream bar back stage.

Many years ago, we rented an ice cream machine just because we were trying to do something nice and fun, and we have kids and all that.

Now we have about $10,000 per year in expenses on a commercial ice cream machine.

What's the best vendor food?

It would be the mac and cheese bowl.

What country music star did you enjoy meeting the most?

Dierks Bentley
Dierks Bentley

It's 100% Dierks Bentley. He's probably the nicest guy in the world.

He was the first act that gave us a shot many years ago, and we've had him numerous times over the years. He's always welcome. He's kind to us and he's kind to the staff.

What are the most memorable concert contract rider requests?

I think the weirdest one we got was for 20 pairs of tube socks, and the same band, it was like 95 degrees and they wanted three different types of hot soup.

I don't know what they were doing with (the tube socks). That one kind of caught me off guard.

What was the biggest Country Fest crowd ever?

Country Fest at Clay's Resort Jellystone Park in Lawrence Township drew big crowds during the four-day event in 2022. The event featured country music stars Jason Aldean, Brantley Gilbert, HARDY and Morgan Wallen.
Country Fest at Clay's Resort Jellystone Park in Lawrence Township drew big crowds during the four-day event in 2022. The event featured country music stars Jason Aldean, Brantley Gilbert, HARDY and Morgan Wallen.

It was Morgan Wallen (in 2022). Right around 25,000.

It was what we always dream of to get to that point. It was awesome for us to experience and for us to test the limits, but I think at the end of the day, we are just a little bit more comfortable around 21,000 and 22,000.

It was the biggest show of our careers and probably always will be.

Reach Ed at [email protected].

On X (formerly Twitter) @ebalintREP and Instagram at ed_balint

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Country Fest co-founder Aaron Green talks favorite performers, food

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