A trio of cowboys came bucking into 100 Mile House for the 19th Annual Cowboy Concert in the form of Tim Hus, Hugh McLennan and Jason Ruscheninsky.
“Everyone we talked to said it was great so therefore, that makes me think it was great. I know I enjoyed it,” said Mark McMillan, the event’s organizer. “I just thought it was a fun show both times and a great audience.”
The Cowboy Concert, Feb. 16, has a matinee show and an evening show. Usually, the evening show is sold out with the matinee show having some empty seats left over, but McMillan said it was the opposite this time.
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However, the attendance overall was above average according to the organizers, with 255 coming to the afternoon shoe and 173 people sitting down for the evening show.
McMillan said everyone he talked to said they enjoyed the show and added there were a few comments on the improvement of local performer Rucheninsky, who hails from the Bridge Lake area.
“His voice has changed, he’s come into his own. His stage presence is way better,” said McMillan.
Rucheninsky was also a performer during the 2012 Cariboo Idol contest, where he placed second.
The organizer also had some positive words for the audience, calling them great and saying they were very responsive to the three performers during both of the shows.
However, McMillan said he wasn’t sure how to compare the day with the 18 previous events, adding that he always hear’s “this was the best one yet,” every year from fans.
He also added that the concert will stick to the same format.
Next year will be the Cowboy Concert’s 20th anniversary and the organizers are working on having a possible surprise for it, though nothing is concrete yet.
The concert raises money for BCCHS Scholarships and the BC Cowboy Hall of Fame museum in Williams Lake.
“Usually, we ake the total profit and split it between the museum and the scholarships,” said MacMillan. “We raised enough in the one concert -well, two concerts in the one day - to fund all the student scholarships for a year…We’ve achieved half of our annual goal in that one day.”
The other half of it will come from the Kamloops Cowboy Festival from March 14-17.