Yeehaw! On Saturday, 2nd August, we hosted our first ever County Fest at The Wishful Thinker in Lenham!
We have never done anything like this before, and we don’t know why we didn’t do this sooner! Whilst we faced a lot of new challenges and encountered a few learning curves, despite this, the event was a great success! It was amazing to see all our customers dressing up on cowboy hats and boots, children and adults alike. We are so pleased that even the family dogs were part of all the fun!
We estimated that over 1150 people joined us for our Country Fest. We are honoured that so many of you wanted to come along and have fun with us at our family-friendly event. This includes the 133 tickets we had sold for our evening entertainment, Dreamin’ of Nashville (not including the full bar of guests who came down as well).
It is overwhelming that so many people wanted to get involved, and it makes us want to do this all over again!
Music & Games
Music & Games
During the day, we had the privilege of hosting two local Country artists, Joe West and Ren Jackson. They both were incredible at getting our guests into the spirit and keeping everyone entertained with their amazing vocals.
This is the first event where we have organised games for our guests to use, and we are so happy to have gone with Leisure Kings! We had games for the whole family to enjoy, with High Strikers and Tin Can Alley to test your strength and hand-eye coordination. However, the main attraction was our Bucking Bronco! Even the staff had to get involved. Over 80 of our customers got involved, and the best Cowboy was fortunate to win a bottle of Supernova Blush!
Food & Drinks
When considering what we would like to offer to our customers for this event, we wanted to stay on brand and offer local produce; however, we also wanted something straight from the US. So, we had two pop-up bars, the first being a gorgeous Blue Moon bar that was provided by Molson Coors. This Belgian-style ale, first founded in Denver, Colorado, was the perfect refreshing ale for this event; it perfectly complemented the blue skies and hog roast we had to offer. Our second was our very own Wildshark Vineyard stand, where our selection of refreshing wines and delectable gins was available to try and buy.
What is Country without a Hog Roast? We certainly couldn’t go without. We would like to thank Forky Porky’s for assisting us with our first hog roast experience. Our Executive Chef was up before sunrise to prepare the mouthwatering hog roast, which we had to offer, and it was well worth the effort. We served this as a delicious bap with all the trimmings, which included coleslaw, crispy onions, crackling and apple sauce. Sometimes one wasn’t enough! We also served our normal daily menu during the day of our Country Fest, our chefs did an amazing job of making sure received great quality food, such as our pizzas, which we sold 87.
Stand Up To Cancer UK
Stand Up To Cancer UK
Some of you may have recognised our Face Painter from Balloons4Fun, she has attended a few of our events in the past. Whilst face painting was free, we did have a charity bucket set up for those who wished to donate. We were able to raise £72.65 for Stand Up to Cancer, which is incredible. Thank you to everyone who donated!
Dreamin' of Nashville Tribute
Dreamin' of Nashville Tribute
To conclude our jam-packed day of country, we had the truly incredible Dreamin of Nashville! Another local band that knows how to party, they bought us everything from Dolly to Luke Combs. Everyone was on their feet dancing the night away, staff and customers alike. This part of the evening was paired with a 3-course set menu and was ticket-only. However, we had a full bar of guests who came to see the band, too.
Overall, this event exceeded our expectations, and we are so proud of what we were able to achieve for our first-ever Country Fest! We would like to thank everyone who helped us create such a fun day out! Also, a massive thank you to all our customers who came along with their families (dogs included) and took part! The real question is, should we do this again next year? Let us know!
published 6/8/25