It was the 16th Annual 100 Mile House Cowboy Concert on Feb. 13 and it, like all of the past years’ concerts, went over without a hitch.
The 2 p.m. matinee performance was a sold-out show that was enjoyed by all who attended.
Alan Moberg opened the show with some of his well-known songs about the Cariboo, including The Williams Lake Stampede. He always goes over well with his tremendous vocals and great guitar playing.
Frank Gleeson followed Alan with a set of cowboy poetry that had the audience in stitches.
Bernadette Ducharme followed Frank with all original material. They were songs she wrote and/or co-wrote using poems from various cowboy poets, including Mag Mawhinney, Gleeson and Bruce Rolph. Her closing song showed off her musical ability as she sang Garth Brook’s song, Mom, acapella.
Wesley Hardisty, 22, closed the first set and left the audience in awe. He made his fiddle come to life with old-time fiddle tunes, and tunes he had composed himself – all instrumentals that brought huge audience response.
Gleeson got up to do a little jig to one of these tunes and this also brought huge cheers.
The second set went over just as well, but this time Moberg helped Hardisty out by playing backup guitar – an added touch that brought a standing ovation and an encore. For the encore, Hardisty borrowed Moberg’s guitar and sang his own rendition of Johnny Cash’s Folsom Prison Blues.
For some reason, the evening show was not a sold out this year as it has in the past. It was still a great audience though, and the venue was fairly full.
The only difference really, was when Cariboo-Chilcotin MLA Donna Barnett got up and thanked Kathy and Mark McMillan for their efforts in putting this concert together every year. She presented Mark with a B.C. government certificate that proclaimed Cowboy Heritage Week is March 13-20.
The other added touch this year was the fact that five of the past year’s BC Cowboy Hall of Fame inductees, or their widows, were present at the matinee concert.
Funds from these concerts go directly toward supporting the BC Cowboy Hall of Fame and the BC Cowboy Heritage Society student scholarships.
