Country Summer Music Festival has grown to an annual destination for Country Music fans on the West Coast, and even a tradition for family and friends from all 50 states. But back in the Winter of 2014, we didn’t really know how it would go.
Florida Georgia Line had sold out the first concert ever at the Sonoma County Fair a few months prior. But was that just FGL’s rabid fanbase? Or a sign that Sonoma County was ready to show up for big time country music every summer? We all felt confident it was the latter, but you just never know until you put the tickets on sale.
When Froggy 92.9 afternoon personality Dano pulled up in the Froggy van to broadcast live from the ticket on-sale the morning of January 18th at 9am, he was delighted to see this:
A line of listeners wrapped around Grace Pavilion at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds, waiting for the Box Office to open at 10am. He made his way to the front of the line, and was shocked what he heard next.
“We’ve been here since 2am,” Froggy listener Caitlin Steiding from Petaluma said. 2AM…IN JANUARY! She and friend Nicole Melberg from Sonoma were bundled up in beanies and blankets to make sure they were in the front row for Hunter Hayes.
In the Winter of 2019, Dano reconnected with Caitlin (now living in San Jose). The two had stayed in touch over the years, mostly discussing their favorite team, the San Jose Sharks. Thinking it was a long shot, Dano asked Caitlin if she still had those front row tickets she’d bought that cold morning back in 2014. She did! She gladly donated them for the purposes of history.
“How many people can say they got the first tickets for the first-ever Country Summer?” she said. “This event has come to mean so much to so many people in Sonoma County, it’s fun to a little part of that history.”
The tickets are now framed and on display at the Froggy 92.9 studios on Farmers Lane in Santa Rosa, just a mile from the Sonoma County Fairgrounds. We are forever thankful for the support Sonoma County has given us from the start, and these first tickets remind us of that every day.
