Country Thunder: Pre-festival kickoff party Thursday night at Ranchman’s

Country Thunder Alberta kicks off with a party at Ranchman's Thursday night, before festival grounds open at noon Friday at The Confluence in downtown Calgary. Headliners at the 2024 fest include Dallas Smith, Hardy and Luke Combs. (Photo:X@CountryThunder

Country Thunder kicks off at The Confluence Friday afternoon, but if you want to avoid at least one lengthy lineup, there’s a pre-festival kickoff party taking place at Ranchman’s on Thursday night that might help.

From 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., at Ranchman's (9615 Macleod Trail S), festival ticketholders can pick up a festival wristband and an age verification wristband before the gates open Friday afternoon at noon sharp.

There are also a number of road closures due to construction around the festival site that will make traffic even worse than it already figures to be over the weekend in downtown Calgary.

They include:

Additionally, there will be a soft road closure in place on 9 Ave. between 4 St. S.E. and 6 St. S.E. between around 10 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. Friday through Sunday, managed by Calgary police.

There’s also a list of items that are allowed and aren’t allowed into the festival grounds.

Items that are not allowed into the festival include the following:

All items and patrons are subject to additional inspection prior to entering the venue.

Items that are allowed include the following:

All items and patrons are subject to additional inspection prior to entering the venue.

Friday’s lineup features Dallas Smith, The Reklaws, Andrew Hyatt, Nice Horse and Tommy Charles on the main stage. The Country 105 Stage will feature Martina Dawn, Travis Dolter, Brandon Lorenzo and Shannon Smith.

For more information, go here.