Good times, but small crowds at 2015 Salmon Festival concert

Concertgoers at this year's Salmon Festival in Grand Falls-Windsor say they had a great time at Saturday's show, but there was plenty of space for fun to be had.

Tom Cochrane with Red Rider, Collective Soul, America, and The Fables entertained the crowd through the afternoon and evening, before headlinerJohnFogerty hit the stage at 9:30 p.m.

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Organizers had previously said they expected a high number of tickets to be purchasedat the gate on the day of thebig concert.

No official numbers have been released by the Town of Grand Falls-Windsor, but attendance estimates hover around the 5,000 mark.

WhenMaroon 5 and Pitbull headlined in 2014, the number of fans was around 8,500 which was considered a small crowd.

Attendees like Justin Bowman, from Carbonear, was the kind of fan that organizers werehoping for.

"We weren't even gonna come, but it was late Friday evening and we just decided to thumb it out," said Bowman.

"We picked up our tickets last night at the Needs in Gander on the way here, so it's kind of aspur of the moment type thing."

The campgrounds around the festival area were roomy, compared to previous years. This year, lots were available on Saturday, compared to previous years when the grounds had sold out weeks in advance.

This year's show had competition with a festival held Saturday in St. John's, but people were optimistic they would have a good time in Grand Falls-Windsor.

"Honestly, it doesn't even matter what it's like. I was here for the Eagles, I'm looking for a showhonestly, hopefully it can be up to par with that and I'm sure it will be and it's going to be wicked," said attendee Jordan Gaslard.

Crowds were a bit sparse earlier in the day, but as the weather cleared up in the afternoon and the major acts began performing, the numbers grew.

"I think a lot of people were waiting depending on the weather," said Brian White.

"If the weather turned out to be good, there'd be a lot of there'd be a big crowd, and I see that's what's happening."