Three Cariboo resident cowboy singers made the finals at the Spirit of the West Rising Star Show Case at the 20th Annual Kamloops Cowboy Festival, March 18-20.
Eight competitors from British Columbia and Alberta entered this popular cowboy music singing challenge along with five cowboy poets.
There are two categories – musicians and poets – and each category accepts up to eight entries and offers $1,000 for first place and $500 for second place.
In past years, this competition has seen entries from Texas, Oregon and Ontario, as well as from all over Alberta and B.C.
Winners from past years have all made it to main stage at the Kamloops Cowboy Festival and some have made it a lot farther. Kristyn Harris, who won the show case in 2011, has since gone on to win the Western Music Association Female Performer of the Year in both 2014 and 2015.
Contestants do an eight-minute set on Friday and two more on Saturday where main stage performers are in the audience to judge. After all the judges’ sheets are tallied
and averaged, the top 3 in each section go to main stage Sunday afternoon where they perform about a 12-minute set. Again judges are sitting in the audience and their judge’s sheets are totalled to see who wins in each section.
This year, there were six very talented entertainers on Sunday afternoon showcase and they put on a show comparable with any main stage show at the festival.
In the poets section, Bruce Chandler was the honourable mention; Shelley Goldbeck took home $500 for second; and Emily Ireland won the $1,000 first-place cheque.
On the musician side, the three finalists were all from the Cariboo.
The honourable mention went to Leslie Ross from the 108 Mile Ranch; in second place, was Bernadette Ducharme from Horsefly; and Bridge Lake cowboy Jason Ruscheinsky took a well-deserved first place.
Organizers of the Kamloops Cowboy Festival are thrilled to be able to say that both Jason and Emily have also earned a main stage performers spot at the 2017 Kamloops Cowboy Festival.
Mark McMillan is the BC Cowboy Heritage Society president.