MORRISTOWN -- Many folks spend the entire early portion of the summer -- if not the entire year -- looking forward to those four incredible, fun-filled days known as Jamboree In the Hills.
Well, the droves of those people are not in a possible state of recovery for multiple reasons.
After four official days of country music, partying and living it up, the party came to an end for the 32nd year here Sunday evening when Sugarland shut the party down officially.
The Sunday show -- which is always a little more laid back compared to the first three because a lot of the crowd has to go back to the real world -- was amped up for the early portions.
However, at approximately 2:30 p.m. the skies over the concert bowl turned dark as night and eventually opened up with one of the most severe thunderstorms to hit the Jamboree grounds.
With tents and awnings flying all over the place due to the strong winds, the concert was shut down shortly after up-and-comer Paul Thorn's set finished.
The show was delayed an hour, pushing Loretta Lynn and the aforementioned Sugarland back, but it did nothing to deter the moment for the crowd.
During the storm, shelter was of the essence. Many folks flocked to the shade tent near the main entrance, but that was eventually cleared after a stake came free from the ground, but was repaired quickly.
Eventually, Jamboree officials came over the public address system and advised the crowd to return to its camp site or its cars, but as most crowd members roared, "We already tore down our camp site."
Without anywhere to truly go and the fact that it just didn't seem to care about the pouring rains and hale, most of the crowd remained in the spot it sprinted for earlier in the morning.
After the first storm moved out of the area, another bout with heavy rains moved in and then it rained once again during the final act, but compared to the first two storms it was just a passing shower.
Jamboree officials in the operations building were dealing with plenty of issues coming up all over the place and couldn't recollect a time when the storms were as bad and forced the announcement to need to leave the concert area.
Loretta Lynn -- who pointed out to the crowd that she performed at the very first Jamboree In the Hills -- is a legend of country music and she got the crowd amped up with her final number, "Coal Miner's Daughter," which is a song that's lasted through time and nearly every country music fan has come to know and enjoy.
However, most of the crowd spent the Lynn show trying to figure out a couple of different things: Why she was wearing a blue prom gown and secondly just how old she really was.
Lynn's twin daughters -- Peggy and Patsy -- took over for their mom and and performed a few songs as well. Members of Lynn's band also sang, making it a true team effort.
Then it was time for one of the fastest-rising groups in country music today, Sugarland which is on its way to becoming a hit machine, producing plenty of top-notch songs such as Everyday America, Want To, All I Want to Do and plenty of more.
The ending of Jamboree in the Hills 2008 is a bittersweet proposition and most of the crowd realized that while all good things must come to an end, there's always the excitement of looking forward to next year's event.
Staskey can be reached at sstaskey@timesleaderonline.com
