Adam Prudhomme
Beaver Staff
Greater Napanee is calling on residents to help convince Molson-Coors that they are a one-horse town and deserving of a visit from a trio of Canadian country music stars.
Thanks to a nomination from a resident, the town has advanced to the second round of a social media contest called One Horse Town hosted by the beer company and is one of six towns across Canada in the running to host a free concert featuring Dallas Smith, Tim Hicks and Kira Isabella.
“The names are pretty big,” said Greater Napanee economic development coordinator Annie Manion. “Even the emcee is Jason McCoy from The Road Hammers.”
Now it’s up to the last six communities to garner the most total votes in order to win the grand prize of a live performance from those super stars, a prize valued at $40,000.
Voters must be 19 years of age and can cast a vote for Napanee online at coorsbanquet.ca/en/oht. They can vote once a day until July 15, when the winner will be announced.
“You can vote on your phones, online (on a laptop or computer),” said Manion. “Each one is a separate vote.”
Napanee stands as the lone town from Ontario left in the contest, up against Miramichi, N.B., Taber, Alta, Williams Lake, BC, Portage la Prairie, Man and Nicolet, Que.
“They just try to bring a big city concert to a small town,” Manion said of the contest. “It has to be (a population) of under 50,000.”
Scoring the concert would be a huge boost to the local economy as well.
Following the nomination, Manion was contact by a rep from Molson-Coors to gage the level of interest the town would have in hosting a concert of that nature.
Given the popularity of country music in the region, it’s a safe bet they’d have no trouble filling the venue.
“When she asked whether we could get 1,000 to 3,000 people out for it, I was like yes, absolutely, that’s not a problem,’” said Manion.
The town is hoping the local country music lovers will do their part.
“We’ve already seen the support,” said Manion. “We shared the Facebook post on our town website and last night when I checked it was already up to 104 shares. It was great to see the community already behind it.”
Manion says the town is still exploring venues for the event should they be victorious. The concert would be Sept. 15.
This is the fourth year Molson-Coors has held the promotion. Previous winners include Moose Jaw, Sask., Truro N.S. and Lacombe, Alta.