JC Post

MANHATTAN -Cooler than normal temperatures and a well behaved crowd were just a couple of the comments following the final concert of the 20th Annual Kicker Country Stampede.
Kurt Moldrup, Festival Security Manager explained that the crowd was well behaved and even jovial,” I’ve got to tell you, we’ve probably had
one of the best years, as far as, the crowd and their behavior.”

He did say alcohol violations continued to be the number one call throughout the festival, but he doesn’t believe this year was as bad as years past.

“I know that Pottawatomie County and ABC have written several, but I think that even that has gone down some. I feel pretty good about it,” said Moldrup.
Larry Couchman, Director of Riley County EMS and Emergency explained that on both Friday and Saturday they responded to between 40 and 42 calls each night, but as of 7 p.m. Sunday they hadn’t treated anyone.

“No major headline events, I mean we had probably better weather that kind of enhances the alcohol issues and we saw that on Friday and Saturday. Maybe a little more alcohol involved incidents, but overall a very good festival,” said Couchman.

The Tuttle Creek area saw temperatures in the mid 80’s with lows in the 60’s overnight, throughout the four day event which Couchman said is likely responsible to the fewer calls this year.
Official numbers are expected to be released sometime this week. Stampede Officials estimated between 35,000 and 40,000 people attended each night according to ticket pre-sales.