It was no surprise the 14th Annual 100 Mile House Cowboy Concert went off without a hitch.
The surprise was a presentation before the show to its organizers by Cariboo-Chilcotin MLA Donna Barnett.
The framed document handed to Mark and Kathy McMillan read: “In appreciation of 14 years organizing the Cowboy Heritage Concert. Thank you.”
“It completely flabbergasted me,” Mark McMillan says. “I had no idea.”
Country and western music fans in the South Cariboo are probably familiar with the McMillans. They’re part of the BC Cowboy Heritage Society, and along with the local concert, have been helping to organize the Kamloops Cowboy Festival since its inception 18 years ago.
Talking about what the western genre means to him, McMillan says cowboys and ranchers are what made British Columbia what it is today.
“That’s our heritage. They’re the ones who took up the land and a lot of those ranches that started in the mid-1800s are still going today.”
With that rich history came the music and storytelling folks these days still love and associate with the West.
When booking artists, McMillan says they look to “true” cowboy entertainers.
“Cowboy music is about riding horses and moving cows. It’s about working the land. The past years of the cowboys, the cattle drives, are retold in cowboy poetry or cowboy songs.”
Funds from the concerts benefit BC Cowboy Heritage Society student scholarships and the BC Cowboy Hall of Fame, which promotes and preserves cowboy heritage in the province.
The McMillans, who own Meadow Springs Ranch near 70 Mile House, have a bit of time off between the 100 Mile House concert, which went Jan. 18, and the Kamloops Cowboy Festival scheduled for March 13-16.
They’re taking a Panama Canal cruise with the Spirit of the West Radio Show, a program featuring contemporary and traditional music of the West.
So, even on vacation, the couple keeps it western.
Although attendance numbers were down a little at this year’s 100 Mile House Cowboy Concert, McMillan says the shows were great and he heard nothing but compliments from the crowd.
Alberta-based singer-songwriter Tim Hus headlined the event, with performances by country music artist Jeremy Willis and cowboy-poet Mag Mawhinney, both of B.C.
McMillan offers an anecdote to convey a sense of how the show was appreciated. It’s common for the entertainers to look to him near the end of their sets to see how much time they have left on stage.
McMillan says when Willis looked over to him on Jan. 18 and he put up a finger to indicate there’s only time for one more song, the person behind him leaned forward to get his attention.
“How about 10 more?” she asked.
