Our 2019 Acadia Broadcasting Sunset Country Spotlight Music Competition all came down to one event…
Our Finale concert took place in Anicinabe Park in Kenora on August 31st.
The winning act will have their music added to the rotation at our company’s radio station across the region!
This was a joint effort between 93.1 The Border and a couple of our sister stations within the Acadia Broadcasting family.
We had countless local artists and groups from around Northwestern Ontario submit their music for this contest and although it was tough we whittled it down to 6 semi-finalist. Then it was up to you to vote for your favourite on our website.
Once your votes were in, then we tallied them up and named the top 3 acts who got to move on to this finale concert!
The show kicked off with last year’s Sunset Country Spotlight champion and Kenora’s own Katie Ford!
Katie’s voice was awesome as she graced us with a few songs. She also shared some exciting news with the crowd…Katy is expecting a baby! It was wonderful to see and hear our former champion in such fine form!
The weather was grey and cool with rain on and off all afternoon, but that didn’t stop people from showing up to support the performers.
Here’s something interesting…We had one act from Fort Frances and two acts from Dryden…at a free concert in Kenora. It made for a cool dynamic because these artists had contingents from outside of Kenora show up to support their live sets! They also bought $1 tickets to vote for their favourite! It was my job to sell these tickets. It was an easy gig because everyone was so supportive!
Thanks to these dollar votes we managed to raise over $2,000 for local school music programs! Thanks to all those who were in Kenora to cast their votes.
As for the Spotlight finalists…
Ethan Armit from Dryden took to the stage first. He favored us with a set filled with fantastic originals and amazing covers. He’s got such a powerful voice!
Something wonderful happened during Ethan’s set…one of his guitar strings broke…and he didn’t bring extras…Here’s why it was wonderful…
One of the other performers was kind enough to lend him his guitar! How awesome is that?
As a matter of fact this generous guitarist was one of the members of the act who performed right after Ethan…
Ragged Road from Dryden had a set filled with 100% ORIGINAL songs! They seem to really capture the Northwestern experience with their music and they had a great time bantering to the crowd as their time on stage went on. This is a tight group with a nice sound!
Our final act was Fort Frances’ own Mike McCaig. He had a really eclectic set of originals and covers. Some audience members remarked that some of the songs he choice to perform were tunes that they hadn’t heard in years! Mike seems like a singer/songwriter from a bygone era in the best way!
Then it was time to tally up all the votes.
There were champion, finalist and judges choice trophies to give away!
Ethan Armit finished in 3rd place while Ragged Road finished in 2nd spot. Both acts are incredibly talented!
That means our hometown boy Mike McCaig finished with the most votes and he also picked up the judge’s choice award as well!
I’ve been a big fan of Mike’s ever since he won Quest For The Best back in 2013. I’ve had the chance to see him perform various times over the years and I’m just glad that so many others appreciate his talent as well. Way to go Mike!
You’ll soon be hearing Mike McCaig’s music on Acadia radio stations all across Sunset Country!
