Canadian Country Music Week is always an absolute honour to attend, and 2012 was certainly no different!  It is an awesome chance to catch up with our industry friends and partners, recap the year we have had, and work on new and exciting ideas! It’s also an incredible opportunity to hear brand new music and see the best in Canadian country music talent.

We were also lucky this year to come home with two exciting awards.

 

 On Friday morning at the Industry Brunch, the Calgary Stampede was awarded with “Country Festival, Fair or Exhibition of the Year”. 

 I was very nervous to make my acceptance speech…but I think I pulled it off okay! After 2 days off meetings and music, we attended the Gala Awards on Saturday night. 

Programming Manager, Roderick Tate, and I were awarded the “Ron Sakamoto Talent Buyer or Promoter of the Year” award.  This was a huge thrill as we have never had the honour of accepting this award before! 

Roderick Tate and I after accepting.

We were very very excited to share this award with Ed Harris, Entertainment Consultant, and Dan Finely, COO of Stampede Entertainment. It was a very happy, exciting, and surreal moment for the Calgary Stampede!

To round the weekend out, we attended the broadcast taping of the Canadian Country Music Awards on CBC. These shows are always a blast! This year, there were even a few country greats from across the border performing, including Eric Church, Jason Aldean, Miranda Lambert, and Pistol Annies.  There were some incredible Canadian performances by Dean Brody, Johnny Reid, Chad Brownlee, Terri Clark, and the list goes on!  Taylor Swift was there to present and accept an award.

All in all, it was an incredible week for Canadian Country music, and of course, the Calgary Stampede!