“It was magnificent,” Jim Reed, the president of Shellabration Inc., said Sunday afternoon. “It was just an awesome night for Fort Dodge.”

The volunteer team of Shellabration Inc. put together a sellout show for Saturday’s Downtown Country Jam. But several hours before Adkins came on stage, it seemed like the success of the show was in jeopardy.

The reason — a storm packing 60 mph wind gusts tore through Fort Dodge at about 8:15 a.m. Saturday.

Throughout the day Friday, volunteers and workers from Reliant Hands, a stage labor company from Osceola, set up the intersection of Central Avenue and Ninth Street for the concert. Saturday morning’s storm trashed much of their work.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Jared Benson, of Fort Dodge, performs with his band Saturday evening at the Downtown Country Jam in Fort Dodge.

Tents were blown down and mangled. Smaller items were scattered everywhere by the wind.

“It looked like a bomb went off,” Reed said.

The good news was that the main stage was not impacted.

Reed said he called Reliant Hands and asked that the crew that was still in town be sent to help clean up the mess. He also called city leaders and got some municipal employees to help.

A group of about 30 people went to work cleaning up and deconstructing mangled tents so they could be set up again.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Jake Burington, lead guitarist with The Boys, performs an edge-of-the-stage solo Saturday evening during the Downtown Country Jam in Fort Dodge.

“It was crazy,” Reed said.

He said he was worried about the status of the show until about 11:15 a.m. Saturday. At about that time, he said, he realized that they would be able to have a concert.

But the weather was still a threat. Reed communicated with Dylan Hagen, the Webster County emergency management coordinator, throughout the day, and thus knew that another round of storms could hit in the evening.

To ensure the show would go on before the weather could wreak havoc again, opening act Jared Benson went on stage half an hour earlier and performed for 45 minutes, which was just a bit shorter than was planned. The Boys came on stage next and performed for one hour instead of the planned hour and a half.

Then it was Adkins’ turn.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Acoustic guitarist and vocalist Adam Klett performs with The Boys Saturday evening during the Downtown Country Jam in Fort Dodge.

“He was well-received,” Reed said. “The crowd was singing along with him.”

Reed said the roughly 5,000 people packed into the intersection came from all different walks of life, and each individual had their own reason for going to the concert, But for one night, none of that mattered as they enjoyed the music, even singing along.

“Music tends to be a uniting force,” Reed said.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Fans line up to get into the Downtown Country Jam in Fort Dodge Saturday afternoon. The show was sold out, and lines at the other gates were just as long.