Burnside brings the 'Thunder' to Labor Day weekend

Sep. 4—If Burnside is the "only town on Lake Cumberland," then it might also be known as the home of "the only Labor Day weekend fireworks show on Lake Cumberland."

"Thunder Over Burnside," the two-day event full of music, vendors and of course fireworks, returned to Cole Park this past Friday and Saturday.

"I'm excited," said Alison Pyles, City of Burnside Tourism Director, on Saturday. "I feel like we've got a well-oiled machine. We've got a great staff and crew. We've got a wonderful partner with Pro Video Audio out of Monticello. So from a production standpoint, everything has been super smooth."

About 100 weekend passes were pre-sold, with several more for either Friday or Saturday, and those numbers "typically double that at the gate," said Pyles. Indeed, as Saturday evening approached closer and closer to the main event — the fireworks show, first moved to September from Independence Day in July back in 2020 due to COVID concerns at the time.

"We had a slow start (Friday) night, with people getting off work, and on (Saturday), everybody was on the lake, it's been so hot, but they're trickling in," said Pyles, as people lined up behind her at the gates to enter Cole Park, where inside was found a variety of food trucks, a selfie station, an inflatable obstacle course for kids, various vendors, and more.

Pyles said that she'd gotten plenty of positive feedback so far, including from Friday's musical headliner Walker Montgomery — son of country musician John Michael Montgomery, and nephew of Montgomery Gentry's Eddie Montgomery.

"Walker was very complimentary, which we appreciate," said Pyles. "He brought a great crowd from quite a ways away. We had one lady from Owenton. We had some from Lawrenceburg (and) Frankfort, so he's drawing a regional crowd now and I love that. Of course, (Saturday headliner) Radiotronic has got a really nice following from Louisville as well. So we're definitely appreciative of our bands drawing their own crowd."

Radiotronic made its third appearance in Burnside in recent years, bringing a party music sound full of covers of popular hits to get the crowd dancing — with Somerset native Jeff Epperson as part of the band — while on Friday, Corbin band County Wide opened for Montgomery, who first appeared in Burnside for last year's "Thunder" event. The rising country star Montgomery performed some covers and original music off of his new EP, "Work to Do," which comes out on September 15.

"It's good to be back, having fun and playing some music," Montgomery told the Commonwealth Journal on Friday. "I was raised in central Kentucky so Lake Cumberland was always a destination to go to on Labor Day and Fourth of July weekend. So it's always good to have the show back in places familiar."

Burnside sought this year to make things more affordable, letting kids 12 and under in for free this time, a move that Pyles said was much appreciated. Her hope is to make the event one that everyone in the community can attend without charge.

"Hopefully next year we can get everybody free," she said. "That's definitely the goal."