Campers lining up at Craven for country jamboree

Glen Armstrong has only missed three festivals onthe Craven Country Jamboree grounds since 1986.And he's seen his share of great shows.

"There was a group over there that had a water fight with a guy in a tank truck one day," he said laughing.

Armstrong and his crew were camping on the site by Monday morning, ensuring they'd get a decent spot inside the Jamboree grounds, once the gates actually opened at 9:00 a.m.

The music doesn't start until Friday.

That's fineby Armstrong, who said the the biggest draw for him at the music festival is the people.

"We've met all our friends that camp with us here over the years. We do like the entertainment, but it's the people factor.And also the people in the campgrounds you get to meet," the Jamboree vet said.

One might even say he's religious about the festival. So much so that he's penned his own beer prayer for the yearly event.

Jamboree organizes estimated that600 regular campers had already set up and started waiting by Tuesday morning.

One change at this year's festival is all the campsites are either reserved or assigned.

"We've gone to complete reserved camping or assigned camping. We've sold all of our reserved sites so we're into assigned camping now," said Kim Blevins, marketing director with the Jamboree.

"And fortunately, because the weather's been so nice we've been able to reclaim some land on the other side of the creek," she said.

She recommended thatanyone who wants to camp together arrive together.

She also there are still tickets available for the four-day country music festival, which is expected to attractmore than 23,000 visitors each day.

TheCraven Country Jamboree starts Thursday and themainstage showsdon't begin until Friday, but the gates officially opened this morning at 9 a.m. CST.

This year's headliners include Blake Shelton, Florida Georgia Line and Jason Aldean. The jamboree wraps up Sunday night.