Festival Frenzy: When Christmas comes in July

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festival.pdf

Opening Paragraphs:

It was summer 2005, and tens of thousands of hyped country music fans cheered as Tim McGraw took the stage at the Merritt Mountain Music Festival. They'd come from all over Canada, the US, and Europe to hear the hot talent perform.

What McGraw saw was a sea of upturned faces. What fans saw was amazing BC landscape and a country music legend — the cherry on top of a string of great performances. What townspeople saw was Merritt's population of 7,000 exploding at the seams to more than five times its usual size. And what local businesses saw was year 13 in a string of highly acclaimed, revenue-generating, annual festivals that has made Merritt an international tourist destination.