Big crowd expected at 'Day in the Country'

Country music lovers will converge on Rosenberg by the thousands Saturday as radio station The New 93Q and the Fort Bend Society for the Arts present the annual “A Day in the Country” music festival.

The venue for this year's event has changed. Previously held at 6E Ranch in Damon, the festival will now take place at the Fort Bend County Fairgrounds, with about 40,000 country music fans expected to be in attendance.

All those fans will likely create a great deal of traffic congestion on U.S. 59 at FM 2218 and also at State Highway 36 South from mid-afternoon to midnight.

Rosenberg Police Chief Robert Gracia has urged residents to be cognizant of delays in those areas and use alternate routes during the event.

He said the police department has developed a traffic management plan which includes additional presence near the fairgrounds. Those plans include directing traffic south on State Highway 36 to parking as well as from the Cottonwood School Road entrance to the fairgrounds.

Gracia said The New 93Q will air public service information if traffic backups become an issue.

“A Day in the Country” requires no ticket for entrance. The fun starts at 11:30 a.m. with the 27th Annual Colgate Country Showdown, designed to find the most promising country music talent in America and to give performers the opportunity to launch their professional music careers.

The Showdown will draw to a close at 1 p.m. Winners from more than 450 local Showdowns throughout the country will advance to their respective state competitions, where acts compete for a $1,000 prize, the state title and the opportunity to advance to one of five regional finals.

The National Final is televised to a national audience from venues such as the Grand Ole Opry House, the Grand Palace Theatre in Branson and Epcot Center at Walt Disney World. The grand prize winner takes home $100,000.

The schedule for the remainder of the day is:

€ 1:30-2:15 p.m. - Curb/Asylum recording artist Lee Brice;

€ 2:45-3:30 p.m. - from “American Idol,” Lyric Street recording artist Phil Stacey;

€ 4-4:45 p.m. - MCA recording artist Ashton Shepherd;

€ 6-7:30 p.m. - hometown favorite Tracy Byrd; and

€ 8-9:30 p.m. - headliner and Universal South recording artist Phil Vassar.

In addition, the Reed Amusements Carnival will be open from 5:30-11 p.m.