THANK YOU for a wonderful 34th Country Music Festival 2026 & from Vina as she Retires !!!!!

What a Weekend at the 34th Tribute Country Music Festival.

There are so many folks to thank: Staff, Volunteers, Sound Crew, House Band, Stage Managers, RVers and most of all the Musicians and their families who give their time so freely to make the Festivals the best ever.

Some folks who don’t get thanked enough are the Audience members….many come to every one of our events and we so appreciate them.

We try to keep the Festival prices reasonable and relative to the entertainment that is provided. This year anyone who attended was given a great BARGAIN as the entertainment was stellar. The comments about what was heard from the stage were all positive. Already, the staff will be thinking about what they want for the next Festivals in 2027.

Thank you to everyone who made my last Festival such a success. I appreciated all of you.

Though I will no longer be the Volunteer Administrator or Festival Chair, there will be some new ideas, new ways of doing things and new faces on the horizon for the Friends of Hank Snow Society.     I  have enjoyed my time with you all and thank you for giving me the many opportunities and experiences over these many years.  It is time for the new generations to bring their creativity and ideas to life.    All the best to The Friends of Hank Snow Society.  I have enjoyed my time here.

The many Summer Students who have come through over these many years who I have enjoyed working with will never be forgotten and I hope their experiences at the Museum will help them take what they learned and  make it part of their lives.  You have all made an impact and leave some of your legacy along with mine with folks who we came in contact with either in the Museum, at local shows and events and most of all at our Festivals.

Bringing Hank Snow into the lives of those who might never have had any experience with his great talent and legacy has been one of my greatest accomplishments.  The many tours I conducted over the years were so fulfilling as it opened the eyes and ears of folks from around the world to who Hank Snow really was as a person.   I have spoken to folks from Europe including Bavaria, France, Germany, Poland, Norway, Sweden, Israel, Spain, and probably countries I have forgotten over there.  Also, we have had folks from South Korea, Japan, China, Australia and New Zealand visit here.  We have had USA visitors from every state of the Union over the years.  Canada has been well represented as well and just last year we had visitors from every Province and Territory and I was really proud of that.

Over the years we have had visitors from all ages.  Surprising are the number of younger visitors we have had and the many musicians some of whom you would recognize.  Many left their outfits or some memorabilia and we have some on display in the Museum.   Some like Brett Kissel for example bring us tidbits of information we had not had before including what Brett told us that Hank Snow is the ONLY Canadian male inducted to the Nashville Country Music Hall of Fame.

One of the displays at the Museum  that is very worthy of special mention is of Joyce Seamone who was inducted to the NS Country Music Hall of Fame and who had a 1972 # 1 hit,  Testing 1,2,3.   Joyce is one of the only two folks who have attended every one of our Tributes.  Dale Verge also a NS Country Music Hall of Fame Inductee is the other who has been at all Tributes.  For many years Joyce  has performed on our stage but every year she has been the Volunteer Back Stage Manager for the event.  She and her team of Arthur Brown and Carol Penney have kept the festivals running so smoothly and though she is not a member of the Board of Directors, she has contributed a lot to the Friends of Hank Snow Society for these many years.    We send out a special thank you to her and her team.

There are so many that I could and should mention.  Charlotte White comes to mind as the most important name to be brought forward.  She has been on the Board, she has co-Chaired Festivals and has fundraised over the years as well as making sure we know the history and share it with folks.  Lauren Tutty who was the Administrator for many years set up the prototype for how a Museum should run and Kelly Inglis helped promote that vision.  Unfortunately COVID set us back for many years of growth and without fundraisers and keeping the momentum going for forging the Museum forward, my lot in life became just keeping our heads above water.  We have been able to do some important upkeep at the Museum even though we have been financially bereft with the financial help of a lot of folks including our Queens Municipality who brought a new furnace to the building,  other benefits and changes were made through donations from folks on the Board and others and this included: painting inside the building to help with the overall impression folks got when they came in to visit.  We also provided a new Oil Tank,  Hot Water Heater, Sub-pump, Concession Building, the Yellow Striped Tent, Refrigerators, Freezer, Fryers, as well as whatever we needed to keep the place up to date.    All this took place during the lowest productivity of fundraisers ever because of not being able to get together due to COVID.

This period I spent here as Volunteer Administrator and Chair of the Festivals, was the most challenging ever seen by the Friends of Hank Snow Society since its inception.   I am hopeful that the new folks who come on board to manage the Museum and the Festivals will bring their creativity now that this is possible post COVID.  I look forward to seeing a regeneration of our organization sort of like it was when we had the Tribute in Bridgewater when it was a major source of fundraising.  Here in Liverpool, we are able to bond the Museum with the Tribute and fundraisers more than we could elsewhere but it has been with a much lower revenue so we have had to be more creative with our spending.  Thank you to those wonderful donors and sponsors who every year come forward with donations…some small and some large, but all so welcome.    You have made this a great place for thousands of folks from all over the world to visit and so we have a stage to develop new talent from our youth performers as well as for those more seasoned folks who come year after year to raise money by singing and playing on our stage.    We have been able to fund the Big Tent, the stellar sound systems, a big stage, the dynamic House Band, security, and all that is needed to make our 34th Tribute Country Music Festival the best yet !!!

Some of the challenges for the Board of Directors and  whoever takes over the administrative duties are the fact that local folks bring their garbage to drop it off here and we now have cameras in place so we can find out who is doing this as we are not able to have our garbage picked up because since this is not our garbage and not in the correct packaging needed for the collectors it is just piling up.     Another issue is that Homeless folks are not allowed to stay on our premises in our Gazebo Park area for more than a couple of nights and they have to be evicted and this is a process that takes time out of our days but there doesn’t seem to be any support for them here which causes a problem for them on our private property.     Dog walkers and sometimes dog folks who stay in their vehicles and let their dogs roam on our land on the Gazebo Park area and do NOT PICK UP after their dogs have become a problem and we may have to restrict this on our land.     All these challenges and the need to address them needs to be done by an Administrator(s) to keep the Museum in operation.

Though we have those issues, we also have the wonderful folks who continue to support us.  Folks like Pat Manthorne who won the free pass to the Festival in 2027, Nita Ball, Ruby Hatt, Mona Whynot, Sandra Whynot, Debra Whynot, Sharon White and the Balls our ladies who come to every Wednesday BBQ & Show and any of our fundraisers and who  have become great friends of ours.  There are so many others that I would run out of space if I named you all (and you know how horrible I am with remembering names !!).    I had to ask Pat for the girls names who come each week and it is a running joke that I can never remember their names but never forget their faces.  I love them all.  I love you all!!!

Farewell as this will be my last post on the Web as Volunteer Administrator !!!

Vina