The gate have opened and country music fans have taken over Tuttle Creek State Park for the 19th Annual Kicker Country Stampede.

The gates opened at 4:00 p.m. this afternoon and the first concert was set to kick off at 4:15 p.m. with 6 Degrees West. Last year the stampede saw a crowd of over 170,000 people over the four day event and this year that number is expected to increase.

Mick McCallister, Service Volunteer Manager explained that this year they are expecting it to be “super big.”

“I’ve had a lot of vendors tell me this is getting bigger every year, and this year is going to be very big,” McCallister said.

Security has been preparing all week for the large crowds but Kurt Moldrup, Head of Security said things should go pretty much the same.

“I think really the tone we’ve set for 19 years has been zero tolerance of things that put people in jeopardy, that are unsafe, and we’ll continue to do that,” Moldrup said.

Thursday nights headliner is Easton Corbin who will take the stage at approximately 9:30 p.m.. Gates will open at 1:00 p.m. for the rest of the festival which concludes Sunday night.