County talent shown at country concert
By Natalie Bazinet
Staff Writer
CARIBOU — Big & Rich, Gretchen Wilson, Cowboy Troy — those artists are well known from here to Los Angeles. But performers like the Kelly Parker Band and Common Crossing — the first two bands opening Feed the County Summerfest on Aug. 20 at Spud Speedway — feature very local talent.
Kelly Parker, of the Kelly Parker Band, is originally from Washburn and Common Crossings’ members Doug Cronkhite, Shane Mountain and Brian Mosher hail from Presque Isle.
“We’re hearing as much about the local stuff as we are about the big name acts,” said owner of Spud Speedway Troy Haney. “People were really impressed.”
He also mentioned that fans have been saying they’d like to see the Kelly Parker Band and Moncton-based group Neon Highway — the band that directly opened for headliners Gretchen Wilson, Big & Rich and Cowboy Troy — grace the Spud Speedway stage again sometime next year.
While listening to Neon Highway perform during Summerfest, Bruce and Tammy Berube of Presque Isle stated that the band was wonderful and that “they work the crowd really well.”
Haney agrees that opening acts exceeded expectations.
“We knew that we’d lined up some good local talent, but I don’t think we knew just how good they were going to be,” he said.
Dialogue regarding the scheduling of future concerts featuring the bands have been started informally, but nothing solid has been set at this point. The event schedule at Spud Speedway can be viewed at www.spud-speedway.com.
The Kelly Parker Band is scheduled for a show in Houlton on Sept. 10 at the Millar Civic Center, and Haney thinks her audience will be bigger because of her apperance during Feed the County Summerfest.
