Lisa Brokop, Duane Steele and dozens of other country singers are set to wow crowds at the Ivan Daines and Friends Country Music Picknic this week.
The 35th-annual event that runs from Thursday to Sunday on the Daines ranch, six km north of Innisfail, once again pairs country music with the Canadian Championship Natural Horse Training Competition.
Besides the renowned horse trainers who are slated to compete from all over Western Canada, Daines said he has also lined up more than 100 country singers, including his son Denver Daines and country music hall of famer Gary Fjellgaard.
Red Deer singers Randi Boulton and Jase Nelson will entertain, as will CKGY radio personality and singer Tera Lee, the Genuine Cowgirls, Ty Hart, Hugh McLennan, Al Owchar, cowboy poets Buddy Gale and Gerald Miller, and others.
“I am very impressed every year with the quality of the singing. It just amazes me,” said Daines, a country crooner himself. While listeners might expect to be dazzled by the likes of Brokop and Steele performing on the covered, outdoor stage, Daines believes the lesser known entertainers will also blow people’s socks off.
“Randi Boulton is not a famous singer yet but she will be. She just has that quality about her. She’s very talented and we’re proud to have her and the other singers here. . . . Some of them sing like angels. . . . ”
The other form of entertainment that’s expected to draw hundreds of people to the ranch over four days will be the natural horse training.
Daines said the competing trainers will be mic-ed so that audience members will hear their kindly approach to horses and what words they use to calm the animals. “Everybody enjoys it that watches it.”
A cowboy church will be held before the championship finals on Sunday morning. There will also be a beer garden, dance hall, tailgate sale, and a nightly karaoke contest with the chance to win up to $4,000 or a free studio recording session.
Single-day admission is $15 ($10 for youths 11 to 17) at the gate. Children age 10 and under are free. A four-day pre-sale pass is available for $30 ($15 for youths) from Jackpot Casino or the Black Knight Inn in Red Deer.
For more information, visit www.ivandaines.com or call 403-358-2295.
lmichelin@www.reddeeradvocate.com