Food, music, and fun.

Three things at the WMZQ Fall Fest that aren’t the same anywhere else.

Every year the country radio station WMZQ has several music festivals. The fall festival was the second one of 2012 that kicked off the start of school and made one of our last nights of freedom great.

The gates opened at five o’ clock, and the first singer that could be heard over the crowd was John Pardi on the side stage, whose most popular song right now is “Missin’ You Crazy.” His melodic voice and fun personality are what first got people to gather around his stage.

After Pardi, Greg Bates performed and won the crowd over with a funny song that allowed the audience to “fill in the blanks” of his lyrics.

But the one who stole the show was Dustin Lynch, most known right now for his song “Cowboys and Angels” which has hit the top of country music charts. Lynch jumped around the stage, had the crowd sing songs he covered, and was shell-shocked when nearly everyone in the audience sang right along with him to his new hit.

Fans weren’t just there to hear his music though. After Lynch performed, he signed tickets, phones, and whatever else crazy fans gave him. He also took pictures with his listeners, which lasted a while because so many people wanted to meet him.

After Lynch’s performance, the main stage opened with Rachel Farley, who has been touring with Jason Aldean this summer and is an up-and-coming country singer. She sang some of her own songs and even covered Katy Perry’s “Hot & Cold.”

The show continued with a crowd favorite, Luke Bryan, who is just as much a singer as he is an entertainer. He danced around the stage, and pulled several people from the pit up with him. At one point during his song “Country Girl Shake it for Me” Bryan decided it should be the other way around and he “shook it” for the audience. He is a multi-talented musician; he played piano and sang the first few notes of Justin Bieber’s song “Boyfriend” which put the crowd in a fit because it was so different from his country style.

Luke Bryan was a crowd please, but the show couldn’t really start until Jason Aldean took the stage. Aldean has a number of big hits, which led to the crowd singing along to every song. Each one was a smash with the audience and Aldean put the finishing touch on a great show.

During the festival people could be seen milling about at the concessions buying food from the volunteers, dancing around on the lawn or in their seats, and just having a great time. The Jiffy Lube Live Amphitheater was the best place for all of this to happen, because it brought country fans from all over Virginia and united them with music.

Hopefully the next WMZQ Fest will be as big a success as this one was.